IBM and Ericsson to Develop Connectionless Server for ATM Networks

La Gaude, France, April 11, 1995...Ericsson Telecom and IBM Corporation
today announced an agreement to develop jointly an SMDS/CBDS server.

Known in the telecommunications industry as a Switched Multi-megabit Data
Service (SMDS) server in the US, or as a Connectionless Broadband Data
Service (CBDS) server in Europe, the planned IBM/Ericsson server will
allow network operators a more cost-effective way to share existing lines,
which in turn enables these companies to offer high-speed switched
communications services to a much wider range of customers.

This combined effort will enable public operators to build more efficient
services such as high speed interconnection of Local Area Networks (LANs)
and also interconnection of existing SMDS Metropolitan Area Networks
(MANs), so that customers can implement and exploit the power of new
applications more effectively while focusing more closely on their core
businesses.

Due to the growing demand for new multi-media and other high speed
applications, users have dramatically increased their need for fast
transmission, connectionless data services, especially for LAN to LAN and
client/server operations. SMDS/CBDS provides a cost-effective approach and
one that is currently being deployed by many telecommunications
organizations throughout the world.

This agreement will allow IBM and Ericsson to provide high performance
connectionless networking equipment -- equipment transferring data
containing its own address or datagrams -- to public operators deploying
Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks.

This equipment will operate with either IBM 2220 Nways BroadBand Network
Switches or Ericsson broadband network nodes, or with any other ATM bearer
service network.

ATM is a protocol that can carry multiple types of communications traffic;
voice, video, data, or a combination of the three, across networks of all
sizes much more quickly and reliably than with prior protocols. It enables
the merger of global communications and high productivity business
applications.

The SMDS/CBDS offering from Ericsson and IBM will couple the ATM and
information technology strengths of both companies. Specifically, the
telecommunications, telephony and data communications technology of the
two companies will be combined to develop a cost-effective,
high-performance, standard compliant (Bellcore and ITU), SMDS/CBDS server
for public or private ATM network applications.

With this SMDS/CBDS server, operators can satisfy customers' requirements
for switched broadband services without deploying dedicated switches.
Instead, they can share the network infrastructure for leased lines, ISDN,
Frame Relay and SMDS/CBDS, allowing less expensive, faster deployment of
new services in more areas of their operations.

According to vice president of enterprise networking, IBM Networking
Hardware Division, James T. Boyle, "IBM is currently rolling out ATM
products which implement our comprehensive ATM strategy. We are working
with partners to add even more functionality to meet our customers' needs.
The combination of IBM's high performance hardware and Ericsson's SMDS
software design, based on their broad experience with telco operators, is
further evidence of IBM's continuing effort to provide cost-effective
solutions to Telecommunications customers."

Gunnar Wranne, Head of Product Line Broadband and Total Solutions, Business
Unit Broadband Network Systems, Ericsson Telecom, comments, "Ericsson is
committed to support telecom operators with total solutions. As high-speed
data communications and broadband

services becomes increasingly more important this connectionless server
further strengthens our product portfolio. By building a service that aims
at transferring data from LAN to LAN, our customers significantly benefit
from this partnership with IBM."

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