RACAL-DATACOM ANNOUNCES LAN/WAN NETWORK MANAGEMENT DIRECTIONS AND
CAPABILITIES

October 12, 1992 -- Racal-Datacom has announced the Racal Management System
(RMS), a set of products and services supporting today' s client server
model of computing. RMS is itself a client/server network management
system designed to provide integrated local area and wide area (LAN/WAN)
management while adapting to and enhancing the user's networking and
business environment.

RMS is the network management component of RSA (Racal Strategic
Architecture). RSA assures that Racal products worldwide interoperate
under common network management and are supported by comprehensive
services necessary to compete in today's business climate. RSA gives users
a technologically sound migration path to support their investment. As a
primary component of the Racal Strategic Architecture, RMS manages
Racal-Datacom's entire LAN/WAN product line -- the broadest range of
networking devices in the industry -- from LAN interface cards in PCs to
bridges and routers and intelligent wiring hubs, to WAN dial and
leased-line modems, digital access devices, subrate multiplexers and T1/E1
backbone networks and bandwidth managers.

SNMP Control Over Multi-Vendor Equipment

Besides giving users a migration path for their existing investment in
Racal products, the Racal Management System also provides gateway and
toolkit applications to interface to other systems and other vendors'
equipment. RMS provides Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP)
capabilities complete with discovery and foreign MIB (Management
Information Base) compiling abilities. RMS offers toolkit capabilities,
documentation and training that provides users or Racal a means to
integrate other vendors' products into the management system.

Bi-directional gateways into IBM's Netview and Hewlett-Packard's Openview,
combined with RMS scripting, provide automated data paths for customer use
of network management information.

Racal has installed more than 2000 network management systems now in use by
business and government organizations in the U.S. and internationally. The
company has now expanded its capabilities beyond the products previously
known as the Communications Management Series (CMS).

"Our customers' requirements have changed as distributed networking has
evolved," said Ed Daly, senior vice president of central engineering and
corporate marketing. "Racal's ability to address those needs has also
evolved with RMS."

Racal Management System capabilities include fault management, LAN
management, LAN and WAN performance analysis, information management,
gateways to other systems, and the ability to provide information in the
format preferred by users to fit their business environment. RMS
components and capabilities are outlined in the following:

1) Information Management Unit. RMS performs system-level network
management. Its Information Management capabilities can be used to provide
global network control, or can be implemented in a client-server
configuration for optimal local control with centralized insight into
utilization and operations. The Information Management Unit provides alarm
correlation and parsing capabilities as well as probable cause and rules
based automation through scripting. The IMU also performs system-level
applications like trouble ticketing, report generation, and toolkits for
user or Racal integration of non-Racal elements on a network.

2) Network Control Unit. RMS performs element-level LAN/WAN network
management through its Network Control capabilities Modules provide
management for different types of equipment from Racal-Datacom and Racal
strategic partners. The Network Control Unit ensures the health and
testing of components in a user's network. This server information is then
fed to the appropriate RMS client for processing. The Network Control Unit
also functions as a full-featured SNMP manager in the LAN segments of a
network. The NCU today supports bridges, routers, intelligent wiring hubs,
modems, DSUs, subrate multiplexers, T1/El, bandwidth managers, as well as
SNMP controlled devices on the user's network.

3) Performance Analysis. Combined LAN and WAN network performance analysis
is provided through the Racal Management System Performance Analysis Unit.
These capabilities include collection of traffic and utilization
statistics, analysis of LAN and WAN protocols, monitoring of error and
response-time performance for network segments, and troubleshooting
problems through an on-line menu-driven network information base. The
combined LAN and WAN capabilities can be distributed throughout the
network to provide total analysis of a network's performance. Users can
use this information to proactively improve and optimize their network's
overall performance.

4) System Gateway. RMS System Gateway capabilities provide an interface
between RMS and other management systems such as IBM's Netview or
Hewlett-Packard's Openview on the customer's enterprise network. This
ability offers users a means to interface with non-Racal-Datacom equipment
installed in their network. RMS, as such, provides for the flow of network
information from LAN and WAN segments on the network onto
customer-preferred Manager-of-Manager systems.

5) User Presentation Unit. Through the User Presentation Unit, RMS supports
customers' requirements to present system and network information in the
format of their choice. RMS supports OS/2 Presentation Manager, X Windows
Motif, and Microsoft Windows. The intent of the User Presentation Unit is
to adapt network management to the customer's working environment. The
user should not have to change their business to acquire state-of-the-art
network management capabilities.

Current User Examples-- RMS Manages LANs, WANs and Combination LAN/WANs

Racal Management System modularity allows users to gain whatever level of
network vision their business requires. MasterCard, for instance, requires
centralized control over its worldwide network. MasterCard uses RMS in its
St. Louis operations center to constantly control and monitor a
mission-critical network which handles more than $200 billion in card
transactions each year and connects more than nine million card acceptance
locations in 27 nations.

Organizations requiring only localized control can also use RMS to achieve
their business objectives. Kraft, for example uses RMS at the Kraft
General Foods Technology Center in Glenview, Illinois to manage a
seven-building network of clustered DEC VAX computers, hundreds of
personal computers and wiring closets. Kraft scientists are able to share
product development information while RMS provides LAN management for a
complex mix of PC and terminal connections at the facility, closet and
workgroup level.

RMS is also capable of supporting organizations which require both LAN and
WAN management. For example, Navistar uses RMS to manage its high-speed
digital backbone network connecting the company's 13 operations in the
U.S. and Canada; RMS also manages the internetworking of Navistar's
on-site and remote LANs.

System Pricing and Availability

Pricing for the Racal Management System is based on the modules and
configurations selected. Prices on an entry-level element management
system begin at $10,000. All RMS modules are now available.

Racal-Datacom is a leading independent provider of data communications,
products, systems and services designed to meet the business objectives of
corporations and government organizations. The company is represented in
more than 80 nations, offering solutions for the implementation,
integration, management and support of enterprise networks from the
desktop through local area and wide area networks. Racal-Datacom reported
revenues of more than $606 million for the fiscal year 1992.

Racal-Datacom
1601 North Harrison Parkway, Sunrise, FL 33323-2899
305-846-1601,  fax 305-846-3935

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