| HITACHI HOME | UP | SEARCH |

22 July 1996

Hitachi Computer Products (America) has entered the U.S. workgroup switching market with a family of Fast Ethernet devices providing up to 32 Ethernet connections, up to 16 Fast Ethernet connections, and the unique ability to let users interchange FDDI, ATM and wide-area network (WAN) uplinks within the same unit.

The HiSpeed(TM) 150 (HS 159) series, with per-port pricing of under $300 for conventional Ethernet switching and under $800 for Fast Ethernet, is price-competitive with limited- function low-end switches while providing more features - including virtual LANs with IP/IPX routing, ATM LAN Emulation, a Frame Relay interface and integrated ISDN access for Internet connectivity - than units priced 30-50 percent higher. The HS 150 is the only workgroup switch with a built-in Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus for a WAN or high-speed LAN uplink.

The HS 150 is the first Hitachi network product originating from Hitachi Internetworking, the U.S. based development and marketing entity formed in 1995. Products developed by the group will be sold by Hitachi Internetworking for the worldwide networking market.

Unlike conventional workgroup switches, which typically offer one or two 100-megabit-per-second Fast Ethernet links, or "fat pipes, " and many 10-Mbps Ethernet links, the HS 150 comes in four models offering 16-32 Ethernet links and 4-16 Fast Ethernet links. This relatively high number of fat pipes allows the switch to be used in connecting desktops to multiple servers, to serve as a cost-effective backbone alternative to ATM or FDDI, or to address the needs of individual "power users" for high-performance workstation connectivity.

[Pricing/Availability]

The HS 150 will be available in production in September. Units will be shipped fully configured and operational. Four standard models are available:

- The HS 150-10-16 provides 12 10BaseT and 4 (full-duplex) 100 BaseT ports for $7,595.
- The HS 150-10-32 Provides 24 10BaseT and 8 100BaseT ports for $13,570.
- The HS 150-100-8 provides 8 100BaseT ports for $7,795.
- The HS 150-100-16 provides 16 100BaseT ports for $12,785.

HS 150-10-16 and HS 150-100-8 units can be field-upgraded, respectively, to HS 150-10-32 and HS 150-100-16 units.

The HS 150 ATM module will be available in September, other modules before the end of 1996. The ATM module will be priced at $2,995. The FDDI module will be priced at $2,750 (single- attach station) or $5,750 (dual-attach station). Pricing for the Frame Relay and ISDN modules will be announced later.

The HS 150 network management software is priced at $495.

All prices are U.S. list. Reseller and OEM discounts are available.

Hitachi Internetworking was formed in 1995 as a unit of Hitachi Computer Products (America) to develop network switching products for the U.S. and worldwide markets. Based in Santa Clara, Calif., the unit has 100 employees. In addition to the new HS 150 Switch Series, the group markets the HS 200 Series of backbone switches, sold under an OEM agreement with Xylan, which offers five- and nine-slot models supporting Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Token Ring, FDDI, CDDI, and ATM interfaces.