CHIPCOM UNVEILS LAN-TO-ATM ROAD MAP

Chipcom Cornerstone Networking Architecture (CCNA) Provides Customers With
Seamless Migration To Tomorrow's High-Speed Virtual And Switched Networks

SOUTHBOROUGH, Mass., April 18, 1995--Chipcom Corporation (Nasdaq/CHPM)
today unveiled its system strategy for migrating customers to
next-generation Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networking. Called the
Chipcom Cornerstone Networking Architecture (CCNA), this road map offers
companies a uniquely open and graceful approach to transforming their
existing network infrastructure into tomorrow's high-speed virtual and
switched campus networks.

According to Gordon Saussy, vice president, product marketing, at Chipcom,
"CCNA defines Chipcom's vision and ultimate destination of Virtual
Networks, and demonstrates the phases we will take and the products we
will deliver to our customers to lead them to this destination. CCNA also
encompasses the cornerstone principles of Reliability, Openness,
Adaptability and Migration--guiding principles we've been embracing
throughout our history."

Three Phases of Virtual Networking

CCNA is Chipcom's framework for gracefully migrating today's networks to
the future benefits of Virtual Networking. Regardless of the stage of
maturity and functionality of a network, CCNA addresses short-term user
needs while at the same time lays the groundwork that will enable
customers to meet their business challenges a decade away.

Building on Chipcom's late March introduction of a suite of new ATM
products, developed jointly by IBM and Chipcom as part of the
long-standing, strategic development and marketing alliance between the
two companies, CCNA takes the following three-phased approach to deliver
next generation networking capabilities to users:

Phase One: Logical Management for Legacy and Switched LANs--CCNA will
provide network managers with easy-to-use and visual "tools" that enable
them to look at their networks logically, as users communicating with
resources, instead of as an accumulation of separate devices. Where
competitive management tools provide only a physical, device-level view of
their networks, Chipcom's logical management capabilities will allow users
to observe conversations between nodes, and use knowledge-based rules
which will enable them to make informed decisions while creating network
models. These on-screen "drag-and-drop" capabilities simplify network
reconfigurations.

These tools--demonstrated at last month's NetWorld + Interop show in Las
Vegas and available to users this summer--represent a fundamental first
step from classical LANs to the Virtual Networks of the future.

Phase Two: Packet Switching to Emulated LANs--Users today are planning to
install ATM backbones in the future for their high-speed capabilities, and
view this commitment as a strategic, long-term investment. Chipcom
believes this transition to ATM backbones for users must be evolutionary,
not revolutionary. Compliance with industry standards and compatibility
with other vendors' offerings to enable open, multivendor ATM networks are
the core of CCNA.

Chipcom will be delivering ATM switching and LAN-to-ATM switching within
its ONcore Switching System platform. Phase Two Virtual Networks will be
built through switching of existing LANs and sub-networks onto Emulated
ATM LANs using ATM Forum specifications. This capability enables Chipcom's
customers to build multivendor ATM Virtual Networks and to leverage
existing architectures while laying a foundation for the future.

Phase Three: Multiprotocol Packet Switching to Virtual Networks--This phase
will enhance Phase Two to include full Multiprotocol Over ATM (MPOA) Layer
3 switching, based on work underway in the ATM Forum. The extension to
Layer 3 switching allows full virtualization of network topologies and
enables users to fully exploit the capabilities of ATM. Finally, networks
can be built and viewed from an applications resources perspective without
physical constraints.

According to Chip Pettirossi, senior analyst at International Data Corp.,
"Chipcom has clearly articulated its shared-to-switched networks vision
for its customers. Unlike its competitors, the CCNA blueprint envisions
the enterprise network as an applications delivery vehicle, rather than as
a collection of boxes."

Four Cornerstones

CCNA defines a very different path to ATM compared with the so-called
'vision strategies' of competitive vendors. The differences are based on
four key architectural "cornerstones," which are designed to ease the
migration to the switched and virtual networks of the future. These four
cornerstones are:

* Reliability --CCNA defines next-generation networks that are reliable,
without a single point of failure. Consequently, Chipcom's hallmark
fault-tolerance is built into every level of the network
infrastructure--from the desktop, to links, to the ATM backbones; from the
stackable and workgroup hubs to enterprise switching systems.

* Openness--Where competitive approaches try to impose a single-vendor
solution, Chipcom's architectural framework relies on an open, multivendor
strategy that protects customers against uncertainty or vendor lock-in.
Chipcom believes no one vendor "can do it all" well. Consequently, the
company has partnered with networking leaders such as IBM, Cisco Systems
and others to pioneer ATM and virtual networking technologies, and to
ensure ATM interoperability between different vendors' products.

Chipcom is also the only intelligent switching systems vendor to open up
its architecture to third-party networking product vendors. Through its
unique Chipcom OpenHub Program, customers can build switched campus
networks choosing from a variety of "best of breed" products.

* Adaptability--CCNA allows customers to easily customize their network
infrastructure to accommodate ever-changing network demands. Chipcom
pioneered this adaptability with the industry's first port-switching
intelligent hubs and software-definable virtual switches. The unique,
adaptive capabilities of Chipcom's products enable users to modify, expand
and enhance their networks with simple software commands, ensuring that
the network manager's time can be spent delivering applications, not
maintaining infrastructures.

* Migration--Because customers want to invest in the potential of
tomorrow's ATM networks without abandoning what they have today, CCNA
defines both products and methods for a graceful, seamless migration to
ATM from today's LANs. Chipcom is the only intelligent switching systems
vendor that has built in forward-compatibility in its product line. CCNA
ensures a smooth migration by its ability to deliver a full range of
solutions--including hubs, packet switching and ATM cell switching--within
one architecture.

Products and Technology

Products within the Chipcom Cornerstone Network Architecture span three
levels: ATM campus backbone networks carrying Virtual Networks,
multiprotocol LAN switches interfacing to ATM networks, and a full range
of stackable hubs, workgroup hubs, enterprise hubs and ATM-to-the-desktop
products.

The ATM backbone product set includes a range of ATM Switch/Control Point
and User Network Interface Modules for the ONcore Switching System. These
ATM products enable the ONcore System to deliver ATM switching, LAN
switching and shared LAN concentration in a single platform.

ATM workgroup products within CCNA include an ATM version of Chipcom's
ONsemble StackSystem workgroup hub and PC/workstation adapter cards that
deliver ATM to the desktop.

For LAN-to-ATM migration, CCNA will include an ONsemble LAN-to-ATM bridge,
multiprotocol LAN-ATM switching modules for the ONcore System and LAN
emulation services for ATM networks.

To manage the next-generation ATM networks, CCNA also brings new ATM campus
management capabilities to Chipcom's ONdemand Network Control System.

Founded in 1983, Chipcom Corporation designs, manufactures, markets and
services fault-tolerant intelligent switching systems, including hub,
internetworking and network management products, for remote site, campus
and enterprise network computing environments. The fast-growing
Southborough, Mass.-based company reported record revenue of $268 million
for its 1994 fiscal year, ended December 31, a 67 percent increase over
1993. According to the market research firm Dataquest, Inc., Chipcom is
the world's third largest supplier of intelligent hubs. Together with its
resellers, Chipcom has a presence in more than 40 countries, and the
company employs over 850 people worldwide.

Chipcom Corp
118 Turnpike Rd
Southborough, MA 01772-1886
508-460-8900

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