Date: Wed, 03 Nov 1999 14:07:26 -0800
From: Jack Rubinger 
Subject: Essential Announces Linux Driver for HIPPI 800


Essential announces The availability 
of a Linux driver for HIPPI 800


Albuquerque, New Mexico, November 3, 1999 Essential Communications, a
leading supplier of high speed networking products, today announced the
availability of a Linux driver for its PCI host bus adapter based on the
High Performance Parallel Interface (HIPPI 800) standard.

        The new software driver, based on the Linux operating system, 
allows for the inclusion of low-cost Linux platforms within HIPPI networks.
This driver extends the HIPPI 800 network advantages of very high speed
(800 Megabits/second) data file transfer capability and low CPU utilization
to Linux platforms. Users will now have Linux platform connectivity to high
performance computing resources that utilize HIPPI technology such as
storage area networks (SANs) and high performance server farms. 

"We're using the Linux HIPPI driver in our dedicated PC Linux tape servers
to run most of the tape drives in the CERN Computer Centre", said Jes
Sorensen, high performance network specialist at CERN. "We expected
significant performance improvements, but the results were even better than
we had anticipated.   We are able to run our tape drives at full speed and
transport server data over the network at around 40 Megabytes/second."

HIPPI technology is ideal for organizations requiring the transfer of large 
amounts of information at high speeds including video and film archiving,
scientific computing, data mining, storage management and transaction
processing. In addition, Essential now offers device drivers for popular host
operating systems including Linux, UNIX and NT allowing customers an excellent
solution for connecting systems that demand real-time applications.

Essential and ODS Networks Inc.
Essential Communications, a wholly owned subsidiary of ODS Networks, Inc. 
(NASDAQ: ODSI) is a leading provider of high performance networking
solutions. Essential's products are key integral building blocks for the
world's fastest supercomputers and largest storage area networks
(SANs). The high performance Essential switch technology is used to deliver
maximum speed and networking bandwidth to high performance workgroups.  The
Essential Communications HIPPI and GSN networking product families include
switches, analyzers and host bus adapters. More information about Essential
Communications is available at www.ods.com.

#  #  #

ODS is a registered trademark of ODS Networks, Inc.  All other trademarks are
the property of their respective owners.


For more information, contact:
ODS Networks, Inc.
Media:  Billy Austin, Vice President, Marketing,
972-664-8040/ baustin@ods.com
Investors:  Charleigh Shayne, Director, Investor Relations,
972-664-8061/cshayne@ods.com


Jack Rubinger
The Bernhardt Agency
503.469.9209
jackr@bernhardt.com