The Tolly Group announces Ascom Timeplex ISDN Technology Trial test results; Ascom Timeplex SYNCHRONY AR and SYNCHRONY ER tested for dial-on-demand connectivity, leased-line backup and bandwidth-on-demand.

MANASQUAN, N.J.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 8, 1996--The Tolly Group today announced the availability of Ascom Timeplex ISDN Solutions test results as part of The Tolly Group ISDN Technology Trial. The Tolly Group examined several aspects of the Ascom Timeplex SYNCHRONY(TM) AR multiprotocol router/bridge and SYNCHRONY(TM) ER enterprise router that are important to small office / home office (SoHo) and headquarters ISDN use: basic dial-on-demand connectivity for primary ISDN connections and leased-line backup, and bandwidth-on-demand. The results are available free of charge from The Tolly Group Web site at http://www.tolly.com.

"Users need some level of confidence that routers can dynamically invoke ISDN connections in the event of a leased line failure," commented Kevin Tolly, president & CEO of The Tolly Group. "These tests show that the Ascom Timeplex AR and ER do just that."

"ISDN is increasingly important access method for our customers, both as a backup in case of line outage, as well as a primary means of internet and telecommuter access," said Rod Kay, Assistant Vice President, Product Marketing. "The Tolly Group's ISDN Technology trial is a demanding test of the applications for which ISDN is used in businesses today. We are gratified our products were able to handle well every situation that was presented to us."

Ascom Timeplex Test Results

The Tolly Group found that the Ascom Timeplex SYNCHRONY AR was able to establish 64 Kbit/s and 128 Kbit/s dial-on-demand connections from a remote site. The dial-on-demand feature of the Ascom Timeplex SYNCHRONY AR successfully established a BRI connection between two remote-site ARs and a single central-site AR simultaneously, creating a 64 Kbit/s (1 B channel) connection between each remote site and the central site. In tests where a 128 Kbit/s connection was established by bonding two B channels together, Ascom Timeplex ARs successfully completed a dial-on-demand connection between a remote site and a central site.

The ARs and ERs demonstrated their ability to transport Frame Relay over ISDN backup to minimize network down time. The Tolly Group verified that the AR and the ER activated the ISDN backup connection during simulated leased-line failures in tests using IPX and TCP/IP protocols over both 64 Kbit/s connections (1 B channel) and 128 Kbit/s connections (2 B channels). Once reactivated, the products recognized the leased-line recovery within 20 seconds and the ISDN link was automatically deactivated.

The Tolly Group also tested the Ascom Timeplex products' ability to bring up the backup ISDN connection not only when the primary leased-line connections failed, but also when the primary ISDN backupconnection failed. The Ascom Timeplex products can be configured to place a second ISDN call if attempts to the primary ISDN re-route fail. In this test, the ER located at the central site was powered off with a file transfer in progress, simulating a catastrophic failure of the ER. Once the ER was powered off, the AR detected a leased-line failure and attempted to activate the primary ISDN backup connection. This attempt failed (as expected), causing the AR to initiate a second ISDN call to a backup AR located at the central site. This attempt was successful and resulted in a 64 Kbit/s ISDN connection.

In tests with a 128 Kbit/s leased-line connection, the products detected a leased line failure within 20 seconds of the disconnection and the ISDN line was automatically activated. Within 20 seconds of leased-line recovery, the ISDN link was automatically deactivated.

The Tolly Group verified the bandwidth-on-demand capabilities of Ascom Timeplex ARs using the TCP/IP protocol. Tests proved that the ARs successfully bonded one 64 Kbit/s ISDN line to a 64 Kbit/s leased line, forming a new 128 Kbit/s pipe when traffic on the leased line reached a user-defined threshold. Further, when the traffic level fell below the user-defined threshold, the ISDN line was successfully deactivated.

ISDN Technology Trial

This study is focused on demonstrating ISDN as a business solution and examines how ISDN integrates with existing corporate networks. The goal of this project is to provide unbiased, third-party evaluations of ISDN products. This technology trial provides objective, real-world case studies of how ISDN integrates into the enterprise and shows multi-vendor implementations. This study is not intended to be a head-to-head, competitive evaluation of like products.

Additional vendors participating in this study are 3Com Corp., ACC, Cisco Systems, IBM, and Network Communications Corp. Results of these tests will be release over the next several months. All results will be posted on The Tolly Group Web site as they become available.

About The Tolly Group

The Tolly Group, a strategic consulting and independent testing organization, offers a full range of services designed to furnish both the vendor and end-user communities with authoritative and unbiased information.

The Tolly Group is recognized worldwide for its expertise in assessing leading-edge technologies including networking, multimedia, and messaging. By combining scientific test methodologies with informed interpretations, Kevin Tolly and the company that bears his name consistently deliver meaningful analyses of technology solutions. For more than a decade, vendors and end-users have relied on The Tolly Group because of its dedication to providing engineering-caliber test methodologies and accurate, reproducible results. The Tolly Group has published more than 100 product evaluations, network design features and columns in the industry's most prestigious publications.

For more information on The Tolly Group's services, visit our World Wide Web site at http://www.tolly.com, email to [e-mail], call 800-933-1699 or 908-528-3300, or fax [phone].

CONTACT: Caryn Hill, The Tolly Group

908/528-3300 x 105