MIDDLEBURY, CT, September 6, 2000-General DataComm Industries, Inc. [NYSE: GDC] today took a major step forward in providing an end-to-end WAN solution for emerging and incumbent service providers facing the explosive growth of Internet traffic and the transition to packet telephony.

GDC's latest addition, the NexEra™ 9000 ATM core switch, offers service providers the highest-capacity and lowest-cost-per-port of any backbone switch in the industry.

The NexEra 9000 complements GDC's family of next-generation packet voice and data gateways to enable critical carrier-business applications, including: Dialed-Internet offload, tandem voice switch replacement, DSLAM aggregation, and high-density multiservice implementations.

The NexEra 9000 is a fully redundant, non-blocking, 40 gigabit high capacity core switch. This NEBS compliant platform supports network connectivity with ATM interfaces supporting bit rates up to OC48.

"As service providers plan to migrate traditional telephony to packet networks and continue to accommodate the expanding volume of Internet traffic, they will need to process a vast number of simultaneous connections. GDC's NexEra 9000 answers that need by handling three-quarters of a million calls concurrently," said Chuck Johnson, CEO of General DataComm.

Distinguishing features of GDC's NexEra 9000 include:

• High-switching capacity (40 Gbps, non-blocking)
• Full redundancy for high-reliability and availability
• 750,000 concurrent connections
• Industry's highest port capacity resulting in lowest-cost-per-port
• Compact design footprint (half-rack space)
• PNNI dynamic routing
• Superior traffic management capabilities

The NexEra 9000 meets a growing market requirement for high-density consolidation of OC-3 and OC-12 ports and OC-48 trunking in service provider environments. Offering tremendous logistical advantages to users, the NexEra 9000 can accommodate up to 512 OC-3 ports and 128 OC-12 ports in a single rack.

Together with the GDC's NexEra family of voice and data gateways, the NexEra 9000 is managed by GDC's ProSphere network management system.

The NexEra 9000 core switch will be generally available in November 2000.

About General DataComm

GDC [www.gdc.com] is a leader in the design, development, and manufacture of broadband, multimedia, and network access communications for service provider, government, and private enterprise networks. GDC has four business divisions: Broadband, Multimedia, Network Access, and VITAL Network Services L.L.C. Products and services in the Broadband Division include packet voice/data gateways for next-generation telecommunications providers. The Multimedia Division supplies the award-winning MAC 500 MPEG-2 ATM video concentrator, multipoint servers, gateways, MPEG-2 video interfaces and service provisioning platforms for IP and ATM networks. The Network Access Division offers DSL/UAS solutions and a broad range of network access products comprising frame relay probes, integrated analog, and DDS; all managed under a distributed, open SNMP network management framework. VITAL Network Services L.L.C. provides a full range of professional and traditional support services worldwide for converging data, voice, and video networks.

All GDC products mentioned in this document are trademarks or registered trademarks of General DataComm, Inc., a wholly-owned operating subsidiary of General DataComm Industries, Inc.

Contacts:

Frank Giannone, Director Marketing Services
General DataComm, Inc
6 Rubber Avenue
Naugatuck, CT 06770
Phone: 203-729-0271