MADGE ENHANCES MISSION CRITICAL HIGH SPEED SWITCHING RANGE Submitted By: Archetype (Text100) Wednesday, 7 July 1999

MADGE ENHANCES MISSION CRITICAL HIGH SPEED SWITCHING RANGE Submitted by: Archetype (Text100) Wednesday, 7 July 1999

Wexham Springs, United Kingdom (July 7, 1999) - Madge Networks (NASDAQ NM: MADGF), a global network solutions provider, has strengthened further its mission critical LAN product portfolio by enhancing its Smart Ringswitch(tm) Token Ring switch family. The range now offers the industry's highest port density High Speed Token Ring (HSTR) switch as well as improved performance, connectivity and resilience. Providing a simple and cost effective route to 100 Mbps Token Ring connectivity for mission critical server farms and switch-to-switch connections, the new high density fiber and copper modules for the Madge Smart Ringswitch Plus(tm) switch have had their HSTR port capacity increased to 30. The high capacity modules optimize valuable rack space while delivering faster network response times for today's bandwidth-hungry applications. To provide even better performance for multimedia IP data applications, the Smart Ringswitch Token Ring switch range now offers 18k frame support giving network managers the option to tune the network frame size to provide best application support. The Large Frame Format (LFF) capability greatly reduces CPU overhead and the time taken to back-up data from enterprise servers such as AS/400's. "With more and more high bandwidth, mission critical IP applications being used across networks, the need for increased speed and efficiency is greater than ever," commented Mike Freeman, product marketing manager, Enterprise Network Products Division at Madge. "The increased 100 Mbps Token Ring port density of the enhanced Smart Ringswitch range will enable users to benefit from faster access to data and improved network response times." Other added benefits of the enhanced Smart Ringswitch Token Ring switch range include support for multiple ATM Ethernet LANE clients, fast fail-over resilience for HSTR and easier download procedures for microcode and software downloads. The Smart Ringswitch HSTR modules are available from August 1, 1999 from a suggested list price of US$4,895. Further details about the products can be found at www.madge.com. Ends About Madge Networks Founded in 1986, Madge Networks (NASDAQ NM: MADGF) is a global managed network services and product solutions provider specializing in mission-critical enterprise needs. The company's goal is to optimize the implementation of enterprises' voice, video and data networks with the

Page 1 ultimate aim of converging all networking needs on Internet Protocol (IP) solutions. The company's main business centers are at Wexham Springs, United Kingdom, Eatontown, New Jersey and San Jose, California. Information about Madge's complete range of products and services can be accessed on the World Wide Web at www.madge.com. Madge, the Madge logo and Smart Ringswitch are trademarks, and in some jurisdictions may be registered trademarks, of Madge Networks or its affiliated companies. Other trademarks appearing in this document are the property of their respective owners. For further information contact: In the UK: In the UK:Release Helen Petts Bruce McLachlan Madge Networks Text 100 Tel: +44 1753 661 000 Tel: +44 181 282 4090 Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] In USA: Peter Alfrey Text 100 Public Relations Tel: + 1 617 723 1044 ext. 210 Email: [email protected]

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