Ascend's Access Concentrator Excels in Performance Testing; MAX 6000 Places First in Testing Conducted by Business Communications Review, XXCal, and Tolly Group
Business Wire - April 24, 1998 08:13
%ASCEND-COMMUNICATIONS ASND %CALIFORNIA %COMED %COMPUTERS %ELECTRONICS %TELECOMMUNICATIONS %PRODUCT V%BW P%BW
ALAMEDA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 24, 1998--Ascend Communications, Inc., (NASDAQ:ASND) today announced that its new MAX 6000 WAN access switch was rated "Best In Test" in Business Communications Review's April 1998 comparison of remote access concentrators. The MAX 6000 also won top honors as the "Most Full Featured for ISP's" and the "Most Scalable" product in its class. In addition, the MAX proved to provide the lowest latency of any product tested, which is important for new services like Ascend MutliVoice voice over IP product.
Competing with systems from Cisco, ACC, Nortel, Osicom, 3Com, and RASCOM, Business Communications Review lauded Ascend's system for its thorough support of IP and Internet-related protocols and functions, strong RADIUS-based security and accounting, and comprehensive WAN interface support. According to the article, "It's easy to see why Ascend has dominated the ISP end of the remote access marketplace with systems like the MAX 6000."
Conducted at the Mier Communications Laboratories in Princeton Junction, New Jersey, this product review is one of the most comprehensive for remote access concentrators. It demonstrates Ascend's lead across a broad range of features that make remote access faster, more reliable, more secure and more profitable for Internet and intranet service providers.
The MAX 6000 also placed first in two earlier tests of remote access products. The first test by the Tolly Group, Remote Access Concentrators Test Report Doc No. 8263, March 1998, showed the MAX 6000 to have superior modem and ISDN performance to the Cisco AS 5300 and Lucent Portmaster 3. The second test by XXCal of El Segundo, Calif., showed the modem performance of the MAX 6000 to be superior to the 3Com Total Control, Compaq Microcom 6200, and the Shiva LanRover Access Switch products.
"These three recent product reviews confirm the MAX 6000 as a remote access performance leader," said Dana Harrison, Director of MAX Product Management at Ascend. "But there's much more to providing industrial strength remote access and the BCR review shows how dominant the MAX is in the critical areas of user accounting, security, scalability, and system management, thanks to its advanced True Access Operating System. With NEBS Level 3 reliability, unlimited expandability, and the low latency needed to support future services like voice over IP, the MAX 6000 stands alone as the leader in remote access concentration."
In an earlier comparison test of five remote access concentrators conducted in March '98 by XXCal Laboratories of Los Angeles, Calif., the MAX 6000 tied for first place in upload performance and was second in download performance against a field of more expensive products. NetworkWorld reported abnormally low performance results for the MAX 6000 in their March 23rd article, "Remotely Possible," which resulted from a misconfiguration in the connection between the MAX and the test switch. Therefore, Ascend contracted XXCal to repeat the test of the MAX 6000.
In tests that precisely duplicated those performed for NetworkWorld, upload throughput for the MAX 6000 was steady at 99 Kbps over a range from one to 60 concurrent FTP sessions, tying for first place with the more expensive Versalar 5000 from Bay Networks, Inc. Upload performance of the MAX 6000 was 37 percent faster than the Total Control HiPer Access System from 3Com Corp, 35 percent faster than the Compaq Microcom 6200 Remote Access Concentrator from Compaq Computer Corp, and the 32 percent faster than the LanRover Access Switch from Shiva Corp. The MAX 6000's download throughput averaged 56 Kbps from one to 60 concurrent FTP sessions, second to the Versalar, but 35 percent faster than 3Com's Total Control, 10 percent faster than the Compaq's 6200, and 21 percent faster than Shiva's LanRover Access Switch. Results from this test are posted on XXCal's Web site at www.xxcal.com.
About Ascend Communications
Ascend Communications, Inc. develops, manufactures, sells and services wide area networking solutions for telecommunications carriers, Internet service providers and corporate customers worldwide.
Press and industry analysts, please contact: Meredith Valt, Alexander Communications, 415-923-1660 (ext.131), mvalt@alexandercom.com; Investors and financial analysts, please contact: Kristina Graziano, 510-747-2345, kristina.graziano@ascend.com; or all other inquiries please call toll-free: 800/ASCEND4.
For more information about Ascend and its products, please visit the Ascend web site at www.ascend.com, or send e-mail to info@ascend.com. Ascend is headquartered at One Ascend Plaza, 1701 Harbor Bay Parkway, Alameda, Calif. 94502; phone is 800/ASCEND4 and fax is 510-814-2300.
The foregoing statements may contain forward looking statements that are based on current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from these expectations as a result of factors including, but not limited to, the Company's success in developing, introducing or shipping new products, competition, the mix of distribution channels employed, the Company's dependence on single or limited source suppliers for certain components used in its products, risks inherent in international sales, seasonality and general economic conditions. These and other factors are discussed in Ascend's 10-K, 10-Q and other filings made periodically with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
CONTACT: Ascend Communications
Stacy L. Ellis, 510/747-6783
stacy.ellis@ascend.com
or
Alexander Communications
Meredith Valt, 415/923-1660 x131
mvalt@alexandercom.com
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