Plaintree on the Crest of a New Wave: Gigabit LAN Switches; Product Preview at N+I; WaveSwitch 9000 Series To Offer Switches for Campus, Building or Floor Applications with Highest Port Densities in the Industry.

WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 9, 1996-- Plaintree Systems, Inc. today announced its strategy to introduce a whole new class of LAN switching products products that use Gigabit Ethernet to fuel a market shift in how campus networks are constructed and managed. The WaveSwitch 9000 family, which will preview next week at the Networld+Interop trade show in Atlanta, will feature a non-blocking frame-switch fabric with greater than 16 Gbps throughput, full redundancy of all critical elements, and the highest switched-port densities in the industry. Configurable as a floor switch, building switch, or top-of-network campus switch, a typical WaveSwitch 9000 will handle 16 ports of Gigabit Ethernet, 128 ports of Fast Ethernet, or 384 ports of Ethernet 10Base-T all running full duplex, simultaneously, at wire speed.

Using Gigabit Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Ethernet as the predominant interfaces, these products expand Plaintree's WaveSwitch product line to deliver enterprise-wide frame-switching solutions all the way from the desktop to the top of a campus backbone.

"The timing is perfect to enter the market early next year with precedent-setting products of this kind," said Alan Greenfield, senior vice president of marketing and sales for Plaintree Systems. "LAN Switches used to be sandwiched in between hubs and backbone routers, but are now rising to a position of greater prominence. The next wave of progress favors switching as the central workhorse of the campus, with traditional routers relegated to `edge' functions such as converting to WAN protocols and accessing legacy applications using obsolete or less popular protocols."

"We concluded two years ago that many network managers would want a less complex alternative to ATM for communications within a campus," continued Greenfield, "so we concentrated solely on scaleable Ethernet switching, including Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet. Our product architecture for campus-wide switching is based upon four mix- and-match custom ASICs which are now emerging from a two-year development process. By getting an early start and committing 25% of our revenues to R&D in pursuit of this goal, we will be one of the first established players to deliver enterprise-level Gigabit Ethernet products."

Additionally, the new family will carry forward the unique advantages of Plaintree's current WaveSwitch 1000 and WaveSwitch 4000 products, including the industry's broadest line of 100 Mbps interfaces (such as FDDI, 100VG, 100Base-TX/FX, and WaveBus) and SmartVIPS (administration-free LANs for IP networks). These are features which facilitate simple and inexpensive migration from today's router-centric networks to multi-level switching throughout the campus.

Key Features of the Plaintree Gigabit Switch: WaveSwitch 9000

Plaintree's new products will feature:

-- 16 Gbps throughput (totally unblocked) to support high port densities (up to 16 Gigabit Ethernet; up to 128 Fast Ethernet; up to 384 Ethernet) -- Many packaging options, including a general-purpose chassis configurable as a Floor Switch, Building Switch, or Campus Switch.

For example:

-- Floor Switch: 192@ 10 Mbps, 40@ 100 Mbps, 2@ 1,000 Mbps

-- Building Switch: 80@100 Mbps, 8 FDDI, 4@ 1,000 Mbps

-- Campus Switch: 8@ 100 Mbps, 14@ 1,000 Mbps

-- Wire-rate full-duplex throughput on all ports -- Extensive fault tolerance, with full redundancy of all critical elements (including power supplies and the core switching fabric) -- Fourth-generation custom ASICs

-- PTA900 Cross bar switch with multi-gigabit capacity

-- PTA1000 Gigabit Ethernet Controller

-- PTA800 Fast Ethernet Controller

-- PTA700 Ethernet Controller

-- Multi-layer VLAN architecture for simplicity of management, configurable by port, address or protocol; -- SmartVIPS (Virtual IP Subnets) for administration-free VLANs in IP networks. This feature automates both the setup of VLANs on IP subnet boundaries and the maintenance of moves, adds and changes; -- RMON (all nine groups) included in all switches; -- Interfaces to all high speed standards including 100Base-TX, 100Base-FX, FDDI, and 100VG-AnyLAN; -- Integrated IP/IPX routing; and -- WaveView Switch Manager, an intuitive graphical user interface providing full SNMP compliance for comprehensive network management on a variety of management platforms;

Pricing and Availability

Prices for the WaveSwitch 9000 family have not been announced. First customer deliveries are expected in the first quarter of 1997.

Distribution and Support

Plaintree sells its product worldwide through multiple channels, including several OEMs and selected distributors, system integrators, and resellers. The company employs direct sales, service and support personnel to provide personalized assistance to channel partners and to end users.

Plaintree Systems Inc.

Plaintree Systems Inc. develops, manufactures, and markets a range of products for the LAN switching market that improve performance and simplify the management of Ethernet and FDDI networks. The company, which was founded in 1988, has its U.S. headquarters in Waltham, MA, with research, development and manufacturing based in Ottawa, Ontario. Plaintree's stock is listed on NASDAQ and The Toronto Stock Exchange under the ticker symbols LANPF and LAN respectively.

Plaintree maintains a World Wide Web site on the Internet at http://www.plaintree.com. -0-

Plaintree, WaveSwitch, SmartVIPS are registered trademarks of Plaintree Systems Inc.

CONTACT: Paul F. Weiss

Vice President, Marketing

Plaintree Systems Inc.

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Cheryl Walsh

Brodeur & Partners (for Plaintree Systems Inc.)

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