Novell Certifies Accton's EtherDuo-16 MPX Ethernet Adapter as
NetWare-Ready

Entire Line of Accton MultiPacket Accelerator Adapters Now Certified as
NetWare Tested and Approved

October 24, 1994 -- SAN JOSE, Calif.--Accton Technology Corporation today
announced that the company's newest NetWare-ready MultiPacket Accelerator
(MPX) adapter, the EtherDuo-16UNC MPX for NetWare ISA-bus Ethernet adapter
(Model EN1657), has been tested and approved for certification by Novell
Labs. With certification of the EtherDuo-16-UNC, all four cards in
Accton's MPX adapter-family, the EtherCombo-16, the EtherPair-16, the
EtherCoax-16, and now the EtherDuo-16, have been NetWare Tested and
Approved. Now Novell NetWare users can choose any of Accton's MPX adapters
and be sure they can be quickly installed and up and running with their
NetWare networks.

The EtherDuo-16 is Accton's fully NE2000-compatible, 1 6-bit ISA adapter
with two ports to support either twisted-pair or thin-coaxial cable
connections. The card's ports are self-sensing and the adapter is
self-configuring using Accton's 1Step installation software. And the
EtherDuo-16 delivers faster data throughput and is faster to install
thanks to Accton's exclusive MPX technology.

"Novell certification tells the world what our customers have known for
some time now, that Accton's EtherDuo MPX adapters is a solid performer in
any NetWare environment," said Al Gounod, Director of Sales for Accton.
"We developed the EtherDuo card to give NetWare users faster performance
and greater flexibility. The EtherDuo not only lets them use a single card
for different cable environments, but it's easier to install thanks to the
double benefit of our 1 Step installation program and the Universal
NetWare Client software. This also marked the first time that Novell has
had an opportunity to test our Universal NetWare Client implementation,
and I'm proud to say it passed with flying colors."

All of Accton's MPX adapters come with the 1Step configuration system,
which combines adapter autoconfiguration, system diagnostics, and driver
installation in a single program activated with one command. 1Step's
autoconfiguration program automatically selects the best available IRQs
and I/O addresses and stores them in an EEPROM chip on-board the adapter.
1Step supports a wide range of IRQ addresses, and provides I/O and boot
ROM address information to minimize configuration conflicts.

Accton's EtherDuo-16-UNC is the also the only "MPX for NetWare" adapter in
the MultiPacket Accelerator product line, and includes the Universal
NetWare Client (UNC) as part of the installation software package.
Novell's UNC software gives DOS and Windows users the ability to
simultaneously connect to any NetWare network, from NetWare 2.x to the
current NetWare releases. The Universal NetWare Client is based on the
NetWare 4 Requester architecture, which replaces the old NetWare
Monolithic Requester architecture used in NetWare 2 and 3. With the
NetWare 4 Requester structure, Virtual Loadable Modules (VLMs) are used in
place of the old NETx shell module, and the new VLM is backward compatible
with all previous versions of the NETx shell.

The other members of the MPX adapter family, the EtherCombo-16 (EN1650),
the EtherPair-16 (EN1651), and the EtherCoax-16 (EN1652), are also
completely self-configuring, with no jumpers or dip switches to set. Each
of the MPX adapters features a 16 Kbyte on-board memory buffer for greater
packet-handling efficiency, and has a socket available for a boot ROM. The
adapters will accommodate either a boot ROM for traditional NetWare
environments, or one compatible with the IBM Remote Program Load (RPL)
specifications for use with NetWare (RPL), LAN Manager, and LAN Server
networks.

Accton's MPX system also includes an Ethernet controller chip with on-chip
CRC error detection and elimination to improve packet handling. Rather
than compromising CRC error checking for the sake of performance, Accton's
MPX uses a memory packet segmented architecture to perform local error
checking and eliminate bad packets before they are sent out over the
network or forwarded to system memory. The result is a significant
increase in throughput with minimal packet loss.

Accton's MPX adapters also have special hardware to minimize network
troubleshooting. Each adapter features a "superbracket" that includes
color-coded LEDs with labels stamped to identify each LED and connector at
a glance. The LEDs readily show link status, indicating data transmission,
reception, and collisions.

The EtherCombo-16 connects to all Ethernet cabling types; RJ-45, BNC, and
AUI connectors supporting twisted-pair (10BASE-T), coax (10BASE-2), and
external transceivers (10BASE-5 or 10BASE-F). The EtherPair-16 has an
RJ-45 connection for unshielded twisted-pair cable, and the EtherCoax-16
has a BNC connector for thin coaxial network links.

The EtherDuo-16 is available now for $79 (when sold in packs of five). The
EtherPair-16 for $99, and the EtherCoax-16 for $99, and EtherCombo-16
sells for $109.

Accton Technology Corporation manufactures workgroup connectivity hardware
and software, including a complete product line for Ethernet and
Token-Ring networks. Accton has been ranked as one of the top six
manufacturers of Ethernet adapters by International Data Corporation, and
was the first Ethernet adapter vendor to receive ISO-9001 certification.
Accton Technology Corporation is headquartered at 1962 Zanker Road, San
Jose, CA 95112; telephone (408) 452-8900; FAX: (408) 452-8988.

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