FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MaxTech Begins Shipment of High-Speed Modems

Featuring Rockwell K56flex Chipsets

(November 17, 1997 Cerritos CA) -- Maxtech today announced that it has added to it’s family of 56K modems with volume shipments of 56Kbps modems that use the widely supported chipset technology from Rockwell Semiconductor Systems. Maxtech's new Netpacer XPM56I modems provide online service and Internet connections over standard telephone lines at speeds nearly twice as fast as conventional modems.

Maxtech Netpacer XPM56I users will be able to achieve these fast connections with a wide range of leading service providers including AOL, CompuServe and Netcom, all of whom have announced support for Rockwell's K56flex chipset technology. An additional 300 ISPs and leading Internet backbone providers including UUNet, BBNPanet and PSINet have also pledged their support to Rockwell's K56flex technology.

"The new Maxtech Netpacer XPM56I modem compliments Maxtech’s previous offering of 56K modem products with award winning V.34 performance and unparalleled customer support. This will help us meet the growing demand for high speed 56K modems," said Gary Schultz, Marketing Director. "Because many equipment vendors, service providers and Internet backbone companies are now supporting the K56flex technology, we believe our customers will be looking for increased opportunities to connect at these high speeds."

As the industry migrates to worldwide 56Kbps modem standards that Rockwell is helping to define, Netpacer 56K modems can be easily upgraded via a simple software download. In the meantime, Rockwell and Lucent Technologies -- two of the world's leading manufacturers of modem chips -- have announced they will develop a mutual interoperability standard that has gained the support of leading PC OEMs including AST Computer, Compaq Computer Corporation, Hewlett Packard and Toshiba Corporation. Even if Maxtech XPM56I customers ultimately choose not to upgrade their modems to future standards, their XPM56I modems will still connect at 56Kbps to any of the tens of millions of Rockwell-compatible central-site modems that are expected to be deployed from April 1997 forward.

Priced at only $99 SRP, the new Maxtech modems are expected to fill the growing demand for high speed 56K Internet connections.

Founded in 1978, MaxTech is a recognized leading producer of data communications and IT products.  In combination with our parent company GVC , Maxtech's monitor production capacity exceeds 150,000 units per month.  MaxTech manufactures a wide range of award winning peripherals including Modems, Monitors, PCMCIA, Video Cards, Video Conferencing and networking products.

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