Martin Sander, Product Manager
ELSA, Inc.
408-919-9100 ext. 116
martins@elsa.com

ELSA, Inc. Announces the First ELSA Powered Cable Modem

A Breakthrough in Internet Access Speeds

Las Vegas, NV (COMDEX L5640)- November 16, 1998 -- ELSA, Inc. (Santa Clara, CA) today announced the first ELSA cable modem to be available in the United States and Europe.

Cable modems offer cost-effective and high-speed Internet access via conventional television cable networks, providing an alternative to the established telecommunications infrastructure. The bandwidth revolution will be accelerated by cable modems, which will have a commanding role to play in the broadband communications networks of the future.

According to independent market researchers, forecasts for the North American market over the next five years exceed 15 million units - corresponding to 3.8 billion US dollars - with annual growth rates between 30% and 100%.

ELSA cable modems will be commercially available in mid '99. Private users will for the first time experience a true "surf-feeling". With data transmission rates in the megabits per second range, the new experience of "surfing" finally justifies the expression. Agencies, professionals and small to mid-sized companies will be able to connect their entire networks with the Internet via an ELSA cable modem.

ELSA cable modems work in two directions: data will be carried from the Internet to the user and from the user into the Internet. As the existing television cable network will be used, no telephone charges will apply.

The cable modem developed by ELSA is the first extremely compact cable modem to comply with the MCNS/DOCSIS standard. MCNS stands for "Multimedia Cable Network System" and is a cooperation between the US cable operators Comcast Cable Communications, Inc., Cox Communications, Tele-Communications Inc. and Time Warner Cable with the aim of defining a worldwide standard for cable modems. DOCSIS describes this standard and stands for "Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification". This standard will for the first time ensure that cable modems from different manufacturers will be able to communicate with one another. This will give the cable modem market worldwide a decisive boost, expected for 1999. MCNS and DOCSIS are, within the framework of the ITU recommendation J.112, internationally recognized standards for data communications via television cable networks.

ELSA Information

ELSA, Inc. is a subsidiary of ELSA AG, a Germany based publicly listed company, trading on the 'Neuer Markt' trading segment of the Frankfurt stock exchange. Founded in 1980, ELSA has built a world-class reputation in high-performance 2D and 3D graphics solutions for professional workstations, commercial desktop and consumer PCs. In addition ELSA offers a wide range of communications products such as Modems, ISDN-internet access solutions and PC based videoconferencing products.

The ELSA logo is a registered trademark of ELSA AG. All names mentioned may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners.