IRVINE, Calif., July 27, 1992 -- AST Research Inc. today announced enhanced
Premium SE 4/33 and 4/50 servers at suggested retail prices up to 30
percent lower than earlier base models. Key enhancements include:

* increased hard drive storage for up to 8GB internally; 
* high-performance caching controller supporting FastSCSI data
  transfer rates of 10MB per second; 
* Fast-SCSI hard drives mounted in slide-out trays for ease of
  maintenance; 
* SCSI backplanes for cable-free drive installation;
* AST FlashBIOS, a simplified software solution for upgrading
  system BIOS;
* and AST Premium VGA, high-performance integrated video
  supporting resolutions up to 1280 by 1024 with 16 simultaneous
  colors.

"This evolutionary change to the server line brings additional value to our
server customers at PC price points," said Larry Fortmuller, director of
high performance systems.

"AST servers provide optimum performance in processing, I/O and networking
and are engineered to provide the utmost in reliability and
compatibility," he said. "Also, they now include technology found popular
in our Power Premium desktop line, such as world-class video for users in
the CAD environment, at no extra cost."

Premium SE 4/50 suggested retail prices begin at $6,295, representing a
$2,700 cost savings over previous base-model pricing. Premium SE 4/33
suggested retail prices begin at $3,995, a $1,400 cost savings over
previous base models.

The EISA-based Premium SE servers, aimed at the multiuser and networking
environments, are compatible with the advanced fault tolerance features of
Novell NetWare, supporting spanning, mirroring and duplexing, to provide
protection for critical data.

Designed with scalability and upgradeability in mind, the servers include
upgradeable i486 processing through AST's Cupid32 upgrade design; up to
80MB of RAM; the high-speed FastSCSI disk subsystem with up to 16MB of
upgradeable cache; and a Premium XP expansion cabinet housing up to 16
hard drives per unit. The Premium XP expansion cabinet also features a
SCSI backplane allowing cable-less installation.

With 11 drive bays in the base cabinet (eight internal and three external),
three more than in previous models, the servers can now be configured to
hold 8GB of data using 1-GB hard drives and still have room for a tape
backup or a CD-ROM.

The Premium SE 4/33 runs at 33MHz clock speed and features 8KB of
integrated cache and a built-in 80387 math co-processor. The Premium 4/50
combines 50MHz i486 microprocessing with 256KB of zero wait-state external
cache. For additional upgradeability, scalability and functionality, the
Premium SE 4/33 features nine available slots. The Premium SE 4/50 has
eight available slots.

Both the Premium SE 4/33 and 4/50 come in five models, replacing all
previous Premium SE offerings. The new models are available immediately
through AST's reseller network. See models on attached price list.

The base models, called Models 33 or 53, provide either 3.5-inch or
5.25-inch drive cages. Optional FastSCSI 200-MB, 500-MB and l-GB capacity
hard drives are available. All hard drive models -- Model 203 (200-MB hard
drive), Model 503 (500-MB hard drive) and Model 1003 (1-GB hard drive) --
include one FastSCSI controller. The servers support up to four FastSCSI
controllers which are designed to manage multiple hard drives independent
of the host system, freeing up CPU resources. Their advanced caching
technology, upgradeable to 16MB of disk cache per controller, breaks the
traditional disk I/O bottleneck by reducing disk access time and
increasing network responsiveness.

Additionally, the FastSCSI hard drives are configured with the slide-out
trays and cable-free plug-in edge connectors for quick and easy hard drive
upgrades that eliminate the need to set SCSI jumpers.

AST FlashBIOS, now standard, allows upgrades through using a diskette or by
downloading from AST's electronic bulletin board service.

AST's high-performance Premium VGA, now integrated on the motherboard, uses
BitBLT (Bit Block Transfer) and hardware cursor technology to support
resolutions of up to 1280 x 1024. This technology provides a solution for
a server running CAD or document imaging applications or a network
environment that uses a windowing format.

The Premium SE servers are fully compatible with Microsoft, Novell NetWare,
SCO UNIX, OS/2 and Banyan Vines, leading network and multiuser operating
systems. Optional 32-bit EISA Ethernet and Token-Ring network adapter
cards offer customers a total networking solution.

To meet customers' needs for technical support in the United States, AST
provides toll-free support Monday through Friday, from 5 a.m to 7 p.m.,
and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Pacific Standard Time. Additional
technical information can be obtained through AST's Info-FAX via fax
machines and a worldwide 24-hour on-line bulletin board service.

Recently ranked number 431 on the Fortune 500 list of America's largest
industrial companies, AST Research is a leading manufacturer and market
share holder of desktop, file server and notebook personal computers. AST
pioneered product upgradeability and multi-brand PC offerings which
feature the Premium, Bravo, Advantage! and Premium Exec families.

The company reported record sales of $944.1 million for the 1992 fiscal
year ended June 27, 1992, compared to sales of $688.5 million for fiscal
year 1991.

AST Research corporate headquarters is located at 16215 Alton Parkway,
Irvine, Calif. 92718. Telephone: (714) 727-4141 or (800) 876-4278. Fax:
(714) 727-9355.

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