Advanced Product Development and Information Technology

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Leading Product Development Firm Offers Innovative SONET/SDH Technology Development Kit To Reduce Time-to-Market for Data Communications Industry

Newton, Mass., September 23, 1998 - Kalman Saffran Associates (KSA), a leading developer of state-of-the-art products for the data communications, telecommunications and interactive/CATV industries, today announced the availability of Datacom OC-3 AccessRingTM, a development kit for companies manufacturing communications products for the data communications industry. For the first time, KSA is offering its innovative SONET/SDH technology integrated as a complete board-level solution. The development kit facilitates the custom design of SONET/SDH-compatible products economically and rapidly, substantially reducing time-to-market.

SONET and SDH are the international standards for very high-speed transmission of digital information. As businesses expand their use of the Internet, the demand for this "must-have" technology has increased. To meet the need for higher bandwidth, manufacturers can use the Datacom OC-3 AccessRing development kit to provide their customers with specific products they need while substantially shortening the development cycle.

"For twelve years, KSA has been developing SONET/SDH products for companies like Lucent, Nortel and Alcatel. Our extensive experience with this complex technology has allowed our customers to get their products to market quickly, and at about half the cost," said Kalman Saffran, president, KSA. "By using the Datacom OC-3 AccessRing development kit, companies can take advantage of our building block technologies to accelerate their product delivery as well."

The Datacom OC-3 AccessRing development kit contains a complete board-level SONET/SDH OC-3c STM-1 access solution, and includes:

* Core SONET/SDH Framing and Overhead Termination Integrated Circuits * Clock Recovery and Distribution Circuits * Integrated Circuits to Encapsulate Frame Relay for SONET/SDH Transport * Integrated Circuits to Encapsulate PPP for SONET/SDH Transport * Building Blocks for Other Encapsulations * Building Integrated Timing Supply (BITS) Timing Circuits * Network Dejitterization Circuits * Clock Protection Circuits * Protection Switching Circuits * Provisioning Firmware for Off-The-Shelf SONET/SDH Integrated Circuits * Drivers for Off-The-Shelf SONET/SDH Integrated Circuits * SONET Sub-System Diagnostics * Protection Switching Software * Network Management Applications Including Provisioning, Monitoring and Alarms * SONET MIB's

In addition, the Datacom OC-3 AccessRing development kit is offered in various form factors and bus interfaces, including PCI and CompactPCI. Hot swappable versions are also available.

Pricing and Availability The Datacom OC-3 AccessRing development kit is offered at $225,000 and is now available. Application interface and customization (NRE) can be ordered at additional cost. Licensing and terms can also be arranged.

About Kalman Saffran Associates, Inc. - Established in 1978, Kalman Saffran Associates, Inc. (KSA) is a leading OEM product development firm that rapidly creates innovative products for premier companies in the data communications, telecommunications and interactive/CATV industries. To ensure success, KSA applies a proven, advanced engineering methodology to all projects. KSA has a staff of more than 100, including engineers specializing in today's "building block" technologies such as SONET/SDH, ATM, xDSL, fiber optics, MPEG and PCI. KSA has designed a CompactPCI hot swap solution and is licensing that solution to communications companies looking to bring hot swap capable products to market quickly. Additionally, KSA offers MPEG-2, and SONET/SDH technology licenses. KSA's clients include industry leaders such as AT&T, Lucent, Nortel, Cisco Systems, 3COM, Scientific-Atlanta, PictureTel, Hewlett Packard, Alcatel, Compaq and Motorola, among many others. For further information, visit KSA on the World Wide Web at http://www.ksa1.com. ###

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