FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Chris Clugston, The Product Marketing Group
  Tel: 804-293-9911; Fax: 804-296-9441; ccluston@mindspring.com
Steve Liberman, Vice President, Marketing, Frontline Test Equipment
  Tel: 434-984-4500; Fax: 434-984-4505; sliberman@fte.com

Powerful Software Tool Launched To Test Serial Connections
Frontline Test Equipment's Serialtest Async - for Windows 95 and NT.
Lets Any PC Become an Async Data and Protocol Analyzer

Charlottesville VA - December 15, 1997 -- Frontline Test Equipment, Inc., (FTE), a leader in portable, affordable PC-based Datacom test equipment, today announced availability of Serialtest Async for Windows 95, a low-cost asynchronous testing solution that allows any PC to function as a full-featured serial data and protocol analyzer. Frontline's new offering enables users to troubleshoot asynchronous serial data transmissions -- including Internet PPP connections -- on the fly, enabling the troubleshooter to review and search the data as it is being captured. Serialtest Async for Windows 95 is the first in an upcoming series of Frontline offerings to use the Frontline Test System software, a robust software package designed for Windows 95 and NT.

"Serialtest Async contains more data analyzing power than most of the expensive dedicated analyzers," said Steve Liberman, Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Frontline Test Equipment. "With our new 32-bit software, field engineers can use a notebook and our software and troubleshoot serial data transmission devices on the fly, including Internet PPP connections. There is no longer a need to rent or buy expensive protocol analyzers."

Serialtest Async for Windows 95 provides a powerful yet economical platform for data communications troubleshooting and development. Serialtest Async for Windows 95 is for anyone who works with serial data communications, including field service engineers, systems integrators, software developers, and ISPs. Serialtest Async will be a popular tool for engineers servicing the burgeoning Internet marketplace, due to the power and portability of the product.

"Serialtest Async is the most significant tool I use for troubleshooting asynchronous data, both in my development of communication software and with our MSAT terminals and Remote Terminal Units (RTUs) that are located in remote areas of Canada and the US," says David Woodhouse, Senior Engineer with Interprovincial Pipe Line's SCADA Services department. "Serialtest Async saves me travel time when I use it in conjunction with McAfee Remote 32 software to do remote control troubleshooting of our communication systems. It is also a valuable tool to simulate our protocol, allowing me to send data to our field devices to make sure they are responding properly."

Some powerful features of Serialtest Async for Win 95 are:

• The ability to review data while it is being captured to a buffer or file, saving valuable troubleshooting time;
• A Statistics Window which summarizes activity on the link, enables fast diagnosis of many problems; Characters Per Second (current and average) and Utilization (current, average and peak) figures are included;
• Real-time protocol decodes for PPP, SLIP, and TCP/IP are included;
• A "Quick Start Guide" outlines screens and shows how these screens correspond to the older DOS version;
• A guide on "How to Capture Data in Seven Easy Steps" is included in the software.

Protocols supported include PPP, SLIP and TCP/IP. User-defined or customized protocols are also supported through use of Frontline's powerful tool, PDAedit, included as an option to the Serialtest Async (PDAedit will be available in the first quarter, '98).

Markets Served by Serialtest Async for Windows 95

Anyone testing or troubleshooting asynchronous serial data communications will find Serialtest Async useful. Markets typically served by FTE's Serialtest Async are:

• Internet/PPP troubleshooters at Internet Service Providers or corporate technical support;
• Healthcare industry, where asynchronous equipment is heavily used to send critical data to and from medical equipment in hospitals and medical facilities;
• Financial industry, including banks, brokerages;
• Telecommunications industry, including long distance and local telephone companies, satellite service providers, cellular and paging companies;
• Network equipment manufacturers, installers, maintenance organizations, and VARs.

Pricing and Availability

Serialtest Async is the first FTS release from FTE, it includes the cable set and software. For Serialtest Async for DOS users, there is a software only upgrade available to the Win 95 version. For information regarding pricing please contact FTE. Serialtest Async for Windows 95 is available today. Serialtest Async for Windows NT is scheduled for release in the third quarter, '98.

More about Frontline Test System (FTS) Software:

Serialtest Async for Win95 is the first member of the Frontline Test System (FTS) product family. FTS is a powerful, true 32-bit Windows 95 and NT software application with a modular design, which allows the same graphical user interface (GUI), protocol decodes, and data processing engine to be used across all Frontline Test Equipment products. With FTS, the same features and functionality will be available for all Frontline products including Serialtest (serial data analyzer), Ethertest (Ethernet data analyzer), and SerialBERT (Bit Error Rate Tester). For example, if you need to use Serialtest and Ethertest you only need to learn one product, since they both have the same GUI and functionality, making the training process faster and easier.

Uniform protocol support across all FTE products:

With FTS, protocol decodes are the same across all Frontline products. Standard protocols include: TCP/IP, IPX, NetBIOS, DECNet, Appletalk, Banyan Vines, PPP, SLIP, X.25, SNA, Frame Relay, Bisync, HDLC, and SDLC. Using the PDAedit tool users can add extensions to the standard protocols or can write their own proprietary decodes, which can then be used with any Frontline product which uses the FTS software.

FTS takes advantage of the 32-bit operating system:

• FTS offers the ability to examine and search data as it is being captured. With past DOS versions and with most analyzers on the market, users have to stop capturing data before they can begin troubleshooting the problem.
• Users can view multiple windows on the screen at the same time. For example, the Breakout Box, Live Events, Review Events and Statistics may all be viewed simultaneously, if desired;
• Users can run multiple copies of FTS on the same PC for various types of troubleshooting. For example, both sides of LAN/WAN bridges may be analyzed simultaneously.

More about Frontline Test Equipment:

Frontline Test Equipment, Inc., founded in 1991, provides highly portable, cost-effective communications test tools to the computer and communications industries. In 1992 Frontline Test Equipment launched Serialtest, introducing the ability to enable any PC, even a notebook, to be a full-featured testing device.

Frontline Test Equipment is headquartered in Charlottesville, VA with a sales and support office in Vienna, Austria. The company distributes products worldwide, with customers including a wide variety of organizations such as AT&T, United Telephone-Sprint, Southwestern Bell, Bell Atlantic, Amoco, General Electric and Federal Express. There are over 15,000 Frontline products installed worldwide.

For more information, contact Frontline Test Equipment, Inc., PO Box 7507, Charlottesville, VA 22906-7507; (434) 984-4500; Fax: (434) 984-4505, http://www.fte.com.

Serialtest, SerialBERT, ComProbe, ComVerter, and Ethertest and the phrase "The Leader in Portable, Affordable, PC-Based Datacom Test Equipment" are registered trademarks of Frontline Test Equipment, Inc. Serialtest Pegasus, Frontline Test System and Frontline are trademarks of Frontline Test Equipment, Inc. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners. 

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