Netier Enters Alliance With Lucent for Wireless Thin-Client Computing; Company's Hardware Comes Ready-Made for Wireless Application

Business Wire, Sept 1, 1998

DALLAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 1, 1998--Expanding on its innovative computing solutions for today's ever-changing work place, Netier Technologies has joined with Lucent Technologies to deliver wireless capabilities to thin-client computing in Microsoft(R) Windows(R) CE and embedded Windows(R) 3.1 environments. It is the first thin-client application for Lucent's wireless computing products.

A developer of end-to-end server-centric computing solutions, Netier has enhanced its NetXpress SL Series of thin-client access devices for early implementation of the IEEE 802.11 wireless LAN specifications. NetXpress now interfaces with WaveLAN(R) II LAN cards designed by Lucent. This combination gives NetXpress devices with Windows CE or Windows 3.1 operating systems wireless access to windows-based terminal servers equipped with Lucent's WavePOINT(tm)-II Access Point bridge for Ethernet networks.

Under the alliance, Netier and Lucent have shared engineering and technology expertise to produce wireless thin-client solutions. As a result, businesses can combine the benefits of wired thin-client computing -- low total cost of ownership, hardware scalability and ease of management -- with the conveniences of wireless LAN computing. Mobile, on-site workers or groups can access server-centric computing in hours instead of the days or weeks it would take to install wired connections. Wireless computing also solves the problem of limited or distant access to computers in certain settings.

With the wireless LAN market in the United States expected to quadruple by the year 2001, Netier offers the market a high-quality thin-client application in a streamlined Windows environment. Network administrators now have the leanest, yet most robust wireless solution available in the marketplace.

Netier's NetXpress SL Series thin-client access devices provide the broad suite of functions defined by IEEE 802.11 standards. Data transmission occurs via Direct Sequence Spread Spectrum (DSSS), the same secured data transmission technology originally developed for military use. The system broadcasts on a 2.4 GHz radio frequency band at up to 2 Mbps speed. The result is powerful, data-sensitive and secure communications delivered through seamless, state-of-the-art roaming. NetXpress will soon scale to 5-, 8- or 10-Mbps rates.

"Lucent's market-leading successes in wireless computing will assure that Netier continues to provide next-generation expertise in thin-client computing," said Jim Crocco, Netier's president and COO. "Network managers now get the best of both worlds: the power of the server delivering information through wireless access."

Wireless computing is finding broad acceptance in businesses, hospitals, universities and factories where workers spend much of their workday away from desks, but within a building or campus. They need wireless computing devices that are reliable for information access and update.

About Lucent

Lucent Technologies, headquartered in Murray Hill, N.J., designs, builds and delivers a wide range of public and private networks, communications systems and software, data networking systems, business telephone systems and microelectronic components. Bell Labs is the research and development arm for the company. For more information on Lucent Technologies, visit the web site at http://www.lucent.com.

About Netier

Based in Carrollton, Texas, Netier Technologies Inc. is a privately held developer of hardware and software that focuses on the growth of Internet/Intranet access and server- centric computing. Netier adapts, integrates and markets departmental servers, disk array subsystems, and low-cost, high-quality thin-client network access devices. Netier's high-performance products incorporate a new level of expandability and integration capabilities to protect a company's network investment from obsolescence. Netier's address on the World Wide Web is http://www.netier.com.

    CONTACT: M/C/C, Dallas
              James Black, 972/480-8383 ext. 265
              james_black@mccom.com
              or
              Netier Technologies, Carrollton
              Victor DiBlasi, 972/241-1763
              victordiblasi@netier.com