R O C K E T F I R E 6 - P O R T F I R E W I R E H U B

MacWorks Announces New 1394a-Compliant 6-Port FireWire Hub

Lenexa, Kansas, May 25, 1999 -- MacWorks today announced the first
FireWire accessory in its new RocketFire line of products. The first
FireWire product the company will ship is the 1394a-compliant,
cross-platform RocketFire 6-Port Hub repeater. The hub will have six
1394a-compliant ports that allow Mac & PC users to seamlessly add
peripherals to their computers without the need to power down. The
six-port hub supports data transfer rates of 100, 200, and 400 Mbps
(mega bits per second) and automatically switches to the highest
speed supported by the connected peripheral. The hub is housed in a
low profile enclosure measuring 5.57" x 2.52" x 4.00" for easy
placement. Power is supplied to the hub through a 30-watt wall mount
transformer.

Currently more than 50 FireWire peripherals are shipping in the
market, with new product announcements almost daily. The dynamic
list of FireWire products includes: digital still cameras, digital
video cameras, hard drives, scanners, printers, and CD-R drives.
With this broad base of peripherals, users want to be able to take
advantage of the performance gains of FireWire over other slower
serial bus solutions and not be limited to the amount of physical
connectors on the system. The hub allows for additional ports at a
very cost-effective price per node. FireWire peripherals are truly
hot-pluggable, making connections between the hub and any device
effortless.

"We're very excited about jumping into the 1394 technology product
arena," said James Harris, CEO and President of MacWorks. "The
market's perception is that FireWire is used primarily for video
editing, but it is gaining broad base acceptance with the
introduction of hard drives and other common end-user peripherals.
With its ease of use, hot-pluggability, and bandwidth 30x faster than
USB (Universal Serial Bus), it is an ideal interface for the consumer
market where moving large amounts of digital data is paramount. We
intend to enter this market first with our hub, then follow-up with
an array of accessories to establish MacWorks as a key supplier for
FireWire technology."

The RocketFire 6-Port FireWire Hub will begin shipping in late May
with a suggested retail price of $399.99. The product supports all
FireWire capable system platforms as well as consumer-to-consumer
peripherals.

Full details at http://www.macworks.com/html/firewire.html
A B O U T M A C W O R K S

MacWorks is a system integrator and reseller specializing in add-on
cards and systems for the Mac OS market. Based in Lenexa, Kansas,
MacWorks delivers warehouse-direct pricing to computer users
throughout the world.
Contact MacWorks online at http://www.macworks.com/, email
sales@macworks.com, phone (913) 599-6227, (800) 711-8679, or fax
(913) 599-6111.

P R E S S C O N T A C T

Shawna Rosen
MacWorks
9770 Legler Road
Lenexa, KS 66219
(913) 564-6110 voice
(913) 599-6111 fax
shawna@macworks.com