Symmetricom's TimeSource provides Synchronization Re-timer to Improve Wireless Quality of Service.

Business Editors and High Tech Writers

Wireless 2000

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2000

New network retimer provides solution for expanding wireless networks to avoid operational problems such as dropped calls and call

quality

With the growing competition in the wireless market, providing high quality of service for customers has become increasingly important.

However, at the same time, the growing demand for wireless services has resulted in capacity constraints that have forced operators to expand their networks by dividing cells and installing micro and even pico base stations. As these expansions occur, and calls become handed off even more frequently, it becomes essential for network handoffs to be timed accurately to ensure that these calls are not dropped and that service quality does not suffer.

Thanks to the synchronization leader Symmetricom, wireless operators can now solve this problem quickly and cost-effectively. Symmetricom, a leading provider of Primary Reference Source (PRS) global positioning system (GPS) clocks, has announced a feature enhancement to its TimeSource synchronization products that allow wireless operators to achieve cost-effective synchronization within base stations.

Until recent years, wireless operators derived the timing signals that guide network operations such as call handoff from local oscillators within the cell sites. These local clocks, if left to their own capabilities, drift over time, resulting in operational problems such as data losses and dropped calls. The cell site clocks can be disciplined - or steered - via a recovered network clock, which is a suitable solution as long as the span line feeding the cell site - typically an E1 (international) or T1 (domestic) span line - meets telecom standards for synchronization such as ANSI T1.101 or G.812.

Unfortunately, network service providers such as local telephone companies currently do not guarantee compliance to these synchronization standards as part of leased line tariff agreements. Additionally, leased line facilities often come from different carrier networks, which each have their own synchronization sources. The result is that leased lines often do not provide a good synchronization source for cell site clocks. As networks become more complex and cell sites are placed closer together, the lack of reliable synchronization soon can become noticeable to customers in the form of a higher number of dropped calls, lost data and even annoying clicking noises on the line.

Furthermore, if base stations have external timing inputs, Symmetricom's PRS products can directly synchronize them. However, many base stations do not have a provision for external timing. These base stations take timing from the incoming E1 span lines which may not carry guaranteed suitability for synchronization depending on the transport mechanism through which the E1 traffic is delivered. Such base stations using the Symmetricom E1 Synchronous Clock Insertion Unit (ESCIU), wireless operators retime E1 span lines by using Stratum 1 timing - the best you can get - from the GPS satellite network. Even when GPS satellite tracking is temporarily lost, the TimeSource system goes into holdover, providing the next highest level of frequency stability, or Stratum 2 (1 part 10-10), for up to 72 hours.

"When global system for mobile (GSM) networks were first installed, macro base stations provided wide footprints without much concern for frequency stability," said Don Skipwith, Symmetricom's Director, Business Development. "Today, many operators are expanding their networks by dividing cells through installation of micro and even pico base stations. Although these practices optimize frequency reuse, new limitations arise from further network deployment and desired quality of service. Recognizing these problems, network operators are now adopting new synchronization practices."

"Before turning to the TimeSource solution, one wireless operator experienced 20 percent to 30 percent call droppage while completing handoffs from one base station to another - a problem that was largely caused by a lack of synchronization," Skipwith said. "By significantly reducing the number of dropped calls using the TimeSource ESCIU re-timer, wireless operators can immediately improve both customer satisfaction and revenue."

In addition, improving the quality of wireless synchronization can lead to reduced operational costs, as operators no longer have to send crews to each cell site to retune the cell site timing clocks. In fact, Symmetricom estimates that by improving network operation and lowering maintenance costs, the TimeSource ESCIU can pay for itself in less than 24 months.

The TimeSource ESCIU is currently available 120 days after receipt of order. List price for the TimeSource 3100 - quartz clock - ESCIU is $6,745. List price of the TimeSource 3600 - rubidium clock - ESCIU is $11,050.

About Symmetricom, Inc.

The Heartbeat of the Net(tm), Symmetricom, Inc. (Nasdaq: SYMM) is the worldwide market leader in providing synchronization and timing solutions to service providers, including ILECs, CLECs, ISPs, cable operators and wireless carriers. With atomic clock, quartz and GPS synchronization solutions installed in more than 1,000 communications networks in more than 60 countries, Symmetricom provides traditional wireline and wireless carriers and IP-based network operators with solutions that help them improve service quality while reducing operational costs. For more information, see Symmetricom on the Web at www.symmetricom.com.

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and is subject to the safe harbor created by those Sections. These forward-looking statements include statements concerning additional payments as assets are transferred to Symmetricom, market share and market demand. Symmetricom's actual results could differ materially from those projected or suggested in these forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause future actual results to differ materially from the results projected in or suggested by such forward-looking statements include: reduced rates of growth of telecommunication services and high-bandwidth applications; timing, cancellation or delay of customer orders; delays in new product development, introduction and production startup; increased competition; customer acceptance of new products, customer delays in qualification of key new products, and the risk factors listed from time to time in Symmetricom's reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including but not limited to, the report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 30, 1999, and the report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended December 31, 1999.

Marc O'Brien Calysto Communications 3355 Lenox Road, Suite 850 Atlanta, GA 30326 Phone.[phone] Fax.[phone]