NPI and NEC to Develop ASICs for Gigabit Ethernet Switching; NPI First to Announce Plans for Layer 3 Stackable Switching at Less Than $100 Per Port

Business Wire, Jan 21, 1998

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 21, 1998--NPI (Network Peripherals Inc.)(NASDAQ:NPIX), a leading developer of high-performance Ethernet and FDDI switching solutions, and NEC Electronics Inc. today announced that they have entered into a development and production agreement to provide high-speed Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs) specifically aimed at the rapidly emerging 10/100 Mbps Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet switching market.

Under this agreement, NPI and NEC will work closely in an ASIC development effort to make Ethernet, Fast Ethernet and Gigabit Ethernet switching scaleable and affordable for the mass networking market.

This agreement will allow NPI and NEC to accelerate the development of leading edge ASIC technology for implementation in NPI's very high bandwidth NuWave Family of Gigabit and stackable Layer 2/3 10/100 Ethernet switches. NPI expects to be the first Ethernet switching manufacturer to offer 10/100/1000 Layer 2 and Layer 3, stackable, wire speed/non-blocking switches with an estimated list price of under $100 per port.

"Our development effort with NEC is an important milestone in our mission to bring high performance 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet switching to workgroups, wiring closets and backbones at market breakthrough prices," said Pauline Lo Alker, president and CEO of NPI.

"NEC's corporate commitment and resources dedicated toward accelerating the deployment of Gigabit Ethernet switching in the market adds a great deal of substance to our on-going technology development roadmap. Our high-end NuWave Family of stackable switches will be the first beneficiary of this relationship."

NEC Electronics Inc. is a leader in the development and manufacturing of high-speed, high density ASICs. With this agreement, NPI and NEC will work closely throughout the development of Layer 2 and Layer 3 10/100/1000 Mpbs Ethernet switches at NPI's NuWave research and development center in Bohemia, N.Y.

"We are impressed with NPI's advanced Ethernet switching technologies and their team of world class network technologists assembled to develop what we consider the next generation of very high bandwidth switching architecture," said Pronay Saha, manager, Ethernet Systems Applications Group for NEC Electronics Inc.

"To assist our customers in improving time to market constraints, NEC recently formed the Ethernet System Applications (ESA) Group, which is chartered with offering industry-compliant Ethernet MACs and Physical Layer cores in leading-edge CMOS technology."

About NEC Electronics Inc.

NEC Electronics Inc., headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., designs, manufactures and markets an extensive line of electronic products including ASICs, microprocessors and microcontrollers, 3D graphics accelerators, digital signal processors (DSPs), memories and components including flat panel displays and lithium-ion rechargeable batteries. In 1996, the company ranked fourth in semiconductor sales in the U.S.

The company operates a 709,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Roseville, Calif. NEC Electronics is an affiliate of NEC Corporation (NIPNY), a $41 billion international manufacturer of computer, communications and semiconductor products. For more information about products offered by NEC Electronics Inc., please visit the NEC U.S. Website at http://www.nec.com .

About NPI

NPI (Network Peripherals Inc.)(NASDAQ:NPIX) designs, manufactures and markets a full range of high-performance FDDI, 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet switching solutions for workgroups, wiring closets and backbones. These solutions are designed to enhance the bandwidth and performance of client/server networks, embrace all popular high-speed technologies and preserve the end-user's current Ethernet investments.

NPI maintains corporate headquarters in Milpitas, California with R&D centers in California, New York and in Taiwan. For more information about NPI call 800/NPI-8855 or go to http://www.npix.com . -0-

Note to Editors: Network Peripherals and the Network Peripherals logo are registered trademarks of Network Peripherals Inc. NuSwitch, NuCard, NuCare, NuHub and NuSight are trademarks of Network Peripherals Inc.

CONTACT: NPI

Robert Zecha, 516/737-2363

rzecha@npix.com

or

The Horn Group Inc.

Valdis Hellevik

415/579.6450

vhellevik@horngroup.com