FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Farallon Lowers Cost of Fast Networking
– Introduces New 10/100 Starlet Switch
– Reduced Prices on Ethernet & Fast Ethernet Products

Electronic Releases & Photos
(http://www.farallon.com/news)

ALAMEDA, Calif., May 27, 1998 – Farallon, A division of Netopia Inc., today
announced significant price reductions on Fast Ethernet and Ethernet hubs,
switches and network adapters. In addition, for a low estimated US street
price of $419, Farallon is now shipping its new version of the Starlet
Switch 10/100 8+2 equipped with 8 10Base-T ports plus 2 auto-negotiating
10/100 ports.

“We generate so much computer data now, high speed networking is
essential,” Merrill Shields, President of Octagon Digital Media states.
“With Farallon’s lower prices it makes high speed networking more
affordable and desirable. The need is there. Our profits are based directly
on how fast we can get jobs through the system.”

“We constantly strive to provide customers with reliable and affordable
high-performance solutions,” said Ken Haase, Director of Marketing for
Farallon. “By lowering the cost of faster networking, we continue to ease
our customers’ migration to Switched and Fast Ethernet.”

Farallon Reduced Pricing on Fast Ethernet & 10Base-T Ethernet

PN908/2a
Starlet Switch 10/100 8+2
(8 10Base-T + 2 auto-negotiating 10/100 ports)
US $739 Old Estimated Street Price
US $419 New Estimated Street Price
43% Drop

PN916/2
Starlet Switch 10/100 16+2
(16 10Base-T + 2 auto-negotiating 10/100 ports)
US $969 Old Estimated Street Price
US $865 New Estimated Street Price
10% Drop

PN930/5
Fast 5-Port Starlet Hub
US $249 Old Estimated Street Price
US $189 New Estimated Street Price
24% Drop

PN930/8
Fast 8-Port Starlet Hub
US $369 Old Estimated Street Price
US $309 New Estimated Street Price
16% Drop

PN930/16
Fast 16-Port Starlet Hub
US $949 Old Estimated Street Price
US $695 New Estimated Street Price
27% Drop

PN520/5
StreamLine Starlet Hub
(5 10Base-T ports)
$59 Old Estimated Street Price
$48 New Estimated Street Price
19% Drop

PN520/8TP
StreamLine Starlet Hub
(8 10Base-T ports)
US $65 Old Estimated Street Price
US $56 New Estimated Street Price
14% Drop

Contact Farallon directly for a complete list of price reductions including
network cards & adapters.

Farallon’s 10/100 Starlet Switches
—————————————-
Designed to seamlessly integrate into existing networks, Farallon’s line of
Starlet Switches are plug-and-play solutions for optimizing Ethernet and
Fast Ethernet networks. These cost-effective, high-performance switches can
reliably handle frequent transmissions of extremely large data files over
the network. In addition, customers with large networks benefit from the
Starlet Switches’ ability to segment networks into smaller more efficient
workgroups. Farallon’s Starlet Switches do not require any major wiring
changes or additional costs at the desktop computers to implement. They are
19″ rack mountable, offer full duplex support, feature front panel LEDs for
at-a-glance monitoring and simply work with the network hubs and cards that
already in place.

Farallon’s Low-Cost Fast Starlet Hubs
———————————————
Farallon Fast Starlet Hubs, available in 5-, 8- and 16-port configurations,
combine 100Base-T performance with a surprisingly low entry cost. Included
with every Fast Starlet Hub is Timbuktu Express, Farallon’s file
acceleration software optimized for transferring large multimedia and
publishing files over Fast Ethernet. The workgroup hubs are ideal for small
to medium size networks that need the high-performance of Fast Ethernet but
do not have the budget, or the need, for elaborate large-scale networking
solutions.

Dr. Farallon’s FREE Network Performance Clinic
————————————————-
In line with Farallon’s tradition of providing customer support, Dr.
Farallon’s Network Performance Clinic offers FREE telephone network
performance consultation to anyone seeking help with designing their
network for optimal performance, no matter what their budget. Mark Weston
of Mountain Ridge Dataworks who recently sought consultation from Dr.
Farallon expresses, “Contacting the Dr. Farallon Clinic for recommendations
on how to improve network performance was one of the best moves I could
have made. The Dr. Farallon Technician was friendly and very knowledgeable.
We work with many vendors and never quite get the opportunity to have a
specialist help in this way. The consultation was really successful – We’ll
be back!” For more information on the Dr. Farallon program call
1-800-613-4954 or visit (http://www.farallon.com/dr.farallon/).

About Farallon
————————-
Founded in 1986, Farallon is the local area network (LAN) division of
Netopia, Inc., an Internet/Intranet solutions company. Farallon develops
and markets reliable plug-and-play Ethernet and Fast Ethernet networking
products designed to “Simplify Networking Through Innovation.” With over 8
million customers worldwide, Farallon is dedicated to providing complete,
easy-to-use networking solutions and world-class technical support to the
Publishing, Education, Small Business and Mobile communities. Further
information can be obtained via phone (510) 814-5000, fax (510) 814-5023,
web (www.farallon.com) or email (info@farallon.com). Farallon and Netopia,
Inc. headquarters are in Alameda, California, with a European office in
Paris.

Press Contacts
—————-
Nicole Martin
Farallon Marketing Manager
nmartin@farallon.com
(510) 814-5326

Gwen Murphy
PR Manager, Netopia, Inc.
gwenm@netopia.com
(510) 814-5307