REDMOND, Wash., October 12, 1998 - The High Performance Networking Forum (HNF) announced today two key milestones regarding Gigabyte System NetworkTM (GSN) technology that strengthen its viability. GSN technology, also known as HIPPI-6400, will be demonstrated publicly for the first time on October 13 at CERN, the European Center for Nuclear Research in Geneva, Switzerland. Genroco, a member of the HNF, will demonstrate its PCI GSN interface by linking a Sun SPARC with a Compaq Alpha platform. Silicon Graphics, also a member of the HNF, will network a pair of SGI workstations using the technology.

A second key milestone is the final balloting process for the GSN proposed standards. The draft standard proposes a one gigabyte per second parallel copper interface capable of supporting link distances of up to forty meters. This is the lowest latency and highest bandwidth networking technology proposed to date.

"Users of processor-intense data or low latency applications such as HDTV and film post production, system area networks, satellite imagery and seismic modeling will benefit greatly from the unprecedented speed of GSN technology," explained Carl Pick, CEO of Genroco and the HNF chairman and marketing director. During an American National Standards Institute (ANSI) T11 plenary meeting in Portsmouth, UK last month, the ANSI T11.1 Task Group resolved all outstanding technical issues with the HIPPI-6400-PH and HIPPI-6400-SC draft standards. With the T11 Technical Committee, which oversees Interconnect Standards, the group voted without opposition to initiate a National Committee for Information Technology Standardization (NCITS) letter ballot for HIPPI-6400-PH and HIPPI-6400-SC. An optical standard for GSN is also in development.

"The progress toward a standard for gigabyte networking is a reflection of the excellent work completed by the T11.1 Task Group," said Don Tolmie, group chairman. "Approval for NCITS ballot process means that we are well on our way toward a 1998 completion of the standard and implementation of the technology."

Production quality GSN controllers, known as SuMACTM are available for license from Silicon Graphics. Products implementing the GSN standard will be available by the end of 1998 from several companies, including Genroco, ODS and Silicon Graphics.

About High Performance Networking Forum

The High Performance Networking Forum (HNF) was organized to promote the Gigabyte System Network and High Performance Parallel Interface (HIPPI) networking and network attached storage standards. This industry-wide effort is committed to providing customers with open and interoperable GSN and HIPPI solutions. The HNF is comprised of approximately twenty organizations worldwide, including platform vendors Compaq Computer Corporation, Silicon Graphics, and Sun Microsystems plus CERN, Los Alamos National Laboratories and other research institutions. Information about GSN and the High Performance Networking Forum can be accessed on the World Wide Web at http://www.hnf.org. Information requests can be directed to hnf@genroco.com.