Acclaim Communications takes network connectivity to new level with EtherWAN Access Switch

Business Wire, August 19, 1996

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 19, 1996--A new Silicon Valley company, Acclaim Communications Inc., Monday announced a family of network switches that takes global network connectivity to a new level by fusing switching with routing.

Acclaim's management team, which includes former pioneers of switching and WAN technology from Kalpana, Stratacom, Network Synthesis, and Novell, have formally launched the new company today. With this announcement, Acclaim is premiering a new LAN/WAN architecture through its ASIC technology (THRILLER) to integrate high-speed LAN connections with wide-area connectivity to Frame Relay or ISDN.

Through this new level of integration, Acclaim is unique in providing customers with a new level of LAN switch/WAN access at unprecedented price/performance.

Building on its rich technological heritage, Acclaim has designed the new family of EtherWAN products to combine switched Ethernet interfaces with high-speed links to public or private WANs. All of this technology is integrated within a single, intelligently managed box.

Raising the Connectivity Bar

The functionality in the EtherWAN access switch would normally take 2-5 separate products to provide. But by integrating LAN and WAN access into a single product, Acclaim saves customers a significant amount of money, in addition to centralizing and easing the network management task, thereby eliminating interoperability issues.

The company is currently announcing two products in the EtherWAN family. The Acclaim 1024-2ES offers 24 10Mb switched Ethernet ports, together with 2 100Mb-Tx switched Ethernet ports, and an optional WAN interface.

The Acclaim 2024-FES offers 24 10/100Mb switched Ethernet ports, together with optional add-on Gigabit Ethernet support. Pricing for the 1024-2ES and the 2024-FES will start at $4,995 ($180 per port) and $14,400 ($600 per port), respectively. The optional modules are priced separately.

With today's announcement, particularly with the ability to support as many as 24 100Mb ports and WAN interfaces, Acclaim is setting a new price/performance standard. No other hub, switch, or router vendor can offer the number of high-speed LAN ports together with integrated WAN connectivity that Acclaim is announcing today.

Scalability

At the heart of Acclaim's strategy is the realization that organizations have growing need for networks that can support a new class of applications. The trends toward telecommuting, Internet access, and remote sites are resulting in exponential bandwidth requirements, and are creating new access concerns.

Said Acclaim's president, Vish Akella, "Today's networks are rapidly evolving into the organization's global communications tool. With the EtherWAN architecture, organizations can offer the speed and sophistication their users need -- together with the reliability, management, and low cost MIS managers require."

As companies grow and their networks evolve, the EtherWAN family makes it easy to add more capacity through a modular architecture and to integrate Frame Relay and ISDN access as required.

Management

The integrated architecture of EtherWAN gives customers a single, Windows-based, SNMP platform for managing both the LAN and the WAN. EtherWAN management features configuration data, in-depth device management, and a graphic network view. The products offer load balancing, load sharing, and link redundancy.

Availability

The new EtherWAN products will be available from Acclaim dealers in early Q4, 1996.

Acclaim Communications is a privately held company based in Santa Clara. The company combines switching and routing technology to offer unique, easy-to-manage, LAN and WAN connectivity solutions at unheralded costs. The result is a powerful network architecture with no limitations on bandwidth or growth. For more information about Acclaim Communications, users can contact the company at 408/327-0100, x100.

CONTACT: Network Associates Inc., Provo, Utah

Trevor Allred and Cheryl Snapp, 801/373-7888

E-mail: trevora@netassoc.com

E-mail: cheryls@netassoc.com

or

Acclaim Communications Inc., Santa Clara

Dirk Christiansen, 408/327-0100 x105

E-mail: dirkc@acclaiminc.com