FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Farallon Announces Optimized Drivers for New MacOS 8.5

Improves Performance of 10/100 Fast Ethernet Cards up to 35%

SAN LEANDRO, California, February 3rd, 1999 - Farallon today
announced new drivers that dramatically increase the networking
performance of MacOS 8.5. With new optimized high-performance drivers
for Farallon's Fast EtherTX-10/100 PCI and Comm Slot II cards, users
can take full advantage of the latest performance improvements built
into MacOS 8.5.

"Mac OS 8.5 features significant performance improvements that make
the Macintosh the fastest personal computer for transferring files
across high speed networks," said Peter Lowe, director, Mac OS
product marketing at Apple Computer, Inc. "Today's announcement from
Farallon extends these industry-leading performance improvements to
all Mac OS 8.5 customers with Farallon network interfaces."

Now available, the updated driver (version 2.0) for Farallon's Fast
EtherTX-10/100 PCI and CommSlot II cards can be downloaded free of
charge via Farallon's worldwide web server
(http://www.farallon.com/). The new driver is optimized for MacOS
8.5, but is also supported on computers running MacOS 7.5.3 or
higher. Farallon plans to release an enhanced driver for its Fast
EtherTX-10/100 CardBus adapter before the end of the first quarter of
1999.

Astounding Performance & Reliability Results

Benchmark tests show up to a 35% improvement in performance over a
leading third party card. The numbers below depict the results of
file transfer performance tests using Timbuktu Pro
(www.timbuktupro.com) from Netopia, Inc. to transfer a 10Mbyte file
between two PowerMac G3/266 computers over TCP/IP:

Third Party Card: 3.6 seconds
Farallon 2.0 Driver: 3.1 seconds

Third party performance tests were run using Farallon's new 2.0
driver and Fast EtherTX-10/100 PCI card to remotely open and save a
100Mbyte Scitex CT formatted Photoshop file to and from a SUN server
utilizing Xinet's FullPress Server Software (www.xinet.com) -
Performance peaked at 7.75 Mbytes/second or 62 Mbits/second.

"The single most important feature customers request is improved
'real world' performance," says Ken Haase, Director of Marketing for
Farallon. "With the release of this new driver, our Publishing, New
Media and Education customers can now connect their existing Macs to
Apple's recently announced Fast Ethernet PowerMac G3s with maximum
performance."

Xinet tests were performed to verify the reliability of Farallon's
2.0 driver under MacOS 8.5 and Open Transport 2.0. Continuous large
file transfers were run in a simulated production environment with a
heavily loaded network for over 20 hours. Bob Kridle, Xinet's
President, states, "After extensive testing against a variety of
servers running our FullPress pre-press server software, we have
found the latest release of Farallon's 10/100 base NIC to be rock
solid."

Full Compatibility with EtherPeek & NetMinder Ethernet

Farallon worked closely with both The AG Group (www.aggroup.com) and
Neon Software (www.neon.com) to ensure 100% driver compatibility with
these two leading software network analyzers. With virtually no
packet loss, Farallon's new 2.0 driver is optimized for use with both
EtherPeek and NetMinder Ethernet on Fast Ethernet networks.

"After comprehensive testing in a production environment using our
NetMinder Ethernet protocol analyzer, Neon Software is impressed with
the compatibility and performance of the new Farallon 10/100 PCI
driver. We will highly recommend its use to our customers," exclaims
Michael Swan, Chief Engineer, Neon Software, Inc.

Mahboud Zabetian, President and CEO of AG Group states, "The Farallon
10/100 PCI driver works wonderfully with EtherPeek for Macinotsh
v.3.5.3 and the new 4.0 alpha release. The driver implementation
provides solid packet capture performance and full error packet
flagging support - two very important issues for EtherPeek customers."

Farallon's Fast Ether-TX 10/100 PCI Plus & CommSlot II Cards Feature

* Up to 35% performance improvement with driver version 2.0 optimized
for Mac OS 8.5

* Based on the latest high performance DEC Fast Ethernet controller
chip for ultimate reliability

* 10 times the network bandwidth of 10Mbps Ethernet for maximum throughput

* NWay 10/100 auto-negotiation for easy migration to Fast Ethernet

* Full-duplex support for network connections up to 200Mbps

* 100% compatibility with EtherPeek & NetMinder Ethernet software
network analyzers

* Diagnostic LEDs for at-a-glance monitoring

* Free technical support & lifetime warranty

In addition to the Fast EtherTX 10/100 PCI, Comm Slot II and CardBus
cards, Farallon also offers a complete line of Ethernet and Fast
Ethernet hubs and switches, including the new 10/100 Fast Starlet
Dual Speed Hub/8. More information can be found at
(http://www.farallon.com).

About Dr. Farallon's FREE Network Performance Clinic

In line with Farallon's tradition of providing technical support, Dr.
Farallon's Network Performance Clinic offers FREE telephone
consultation to anyone seeking help with designing their network for
optimal performance, no matter what their budget. For more
information on the Dr. Farallon program call 1-800-613-4954 or visit
(http://www.farallon.com/dr.farallon).

About Farallon Communications

Founded in 1986, 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 Home Networking
communities. Further information can be obtained via phone
510.346.8000, web (http://www.farallon.com) or email
(mailto:info@farallon.com). Farallon headquarters are in San Leandro,
California, with a European office in the UK.