Bay Networks' Provides Accelar Routing Switches to Universite Laval; Leading Quebec University Installs Layer 3 Switching into Faculty Network

Business Wire, May 28, 1998

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 28, 1998--Bay Networks(R) Inc. (NYSE:BAY) today announced it has further extended its base of customers using Accelar(TM) routing switches with the addition of Universite Laval -- one of Canada's largest French-speaking universities.

Universite Laval has installed Accelar 1200 routing switches along with Bay Networks' Gigabit Ethernet technology to upgrade the networking infrastructure in its new sciences and engineering faculty building.

Located in Quebec City, Universite Laval is one of Canada's leading education and research institutions. In recent years, the university was faced with the challenge of supporting a greater demand for bandwidth resulting from an increased number of network users and increasingly demanding engineering applications.

Bay Networks was selected to provide a solution that would meet both the short-term and long-term needs of the sciences and engineering faculty. The solution included integrating Gigabit Ethernet technology and Layer 3 switching within the Accelar 1200 routing switch which provided wire-speed, low-latency IP performance with the simplicity and cost-effectiveness of traditional Layer 2 switches.

"Out of all the data communication products selected for reviewed by Universite Laval, Bay Networks was chosen by a technical group composed of customers and specialists," said M. Mario Bruneau, chief of the Telecommunication Division at Universite Laval.

"Bay Networks' solution was the most suitable to handle the actual and future needs of the sciences and engineering faculty including: 10/100 Mbps to the desktop; 1 Gbps across the department faculty backbone and high throughput servers; and the ability to deliver high speed switching and routing."

Universite Laval's science and engineering network consists of four interconnected workgroups that share common access to the network backbone. Each workgroup has installed modular Accelar 1200 Layer 3 switches, which are connected to a central Accelar routing switch using Gigabit Ethernet speeds.

Each department is able to support 10/100 Ethernet switching through the use of BayStack(TM) 350 switches. In addition, Bay Networks Optivity(R) Network Management Software is used to manage the network. This software provides configuration and error notification, as well as proactive monitoring capabilities, including thresholding and modeling.

"Bay Networks answered the needs of the customer with the Accelar 1200's ability to deliver high-performance Layer 3 switching while lowering the cost and reducing the complexity of the network," said Daniel Paradis, territory manager -- Quebec at Bay Networks.

Accelar routing switches were able to leverage existing IP without requiring complex new protocols or expensive network upgrades for the existing routers, switches or adapters. The upgraded network also has the added benefit of scalability in order to meet the future requirements and protect the investment of Universite Laval.

About Universite Laval

Located in the heart of Quebec's historic capital city, Universite Laval is one of Canada's leading universities. Among the top 10 Canadian universities in terms of research, it received more than $115 million in 1996-1997 for research and international cooperation.

As Canada's first university, Universite Laval was the first place in North America to offer higher education in French. As of fall 1997, Universite Laval had over 300 programs at three levels of study and 33,700 students. For additional information, please visit http://www.ulaval.ca/.>About Bay Networks

Bay Networks Inc. (NYSE:BAY) is a leader in the worldwide networking market, providing a complete line of products that serve corporate enterprises, service providers and telecommunications carriers. The company offers frame and ATM switches, routers, shared media, remote and Internet access solutions, IP services and network management applications, all integrated by Bay Networks' Adaptive Networking strategy.

With headquarters in Santa Clara, Bay Networks markets its products and services around the world, providing 7x24 support coverage. For additional information visit the company's World Wide Web site at http://www.baynetworks.com or call 800/6-BAYNET.

This release, other than historical financial information, may consist of forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. These statements may differ materially from actual future events or results. For instance, factors which could cause results to differ from future events include the rate of adoption of new technology, competitive pricing actions and marketing programs, among others. Readers are referred to the documents filed by Bay Networks with the S.E.C., specifically the most recent reports on forms 10-K and 10-Q, which identify important risk factors which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. -0-

Note to Editors: Bay Networks and Optivity are registered trademarks and Accelar, BayStack and Bay Networks -- Where Information Flows are trademarks of Bay Networks Inc. Other brand and product names are registered trademarks or trademarks of their respective holders.