NASHVILLE, TN—September 9, 2004—Perle Systems, an established leader in the device networking market, today released new 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 port versions of its innovative new UltraPort SI universal 3.3v/5v PCI Serial Cards. With the UltraPort SI, Perle is the first vendor to incorporate EIA-232, EIA-422 and EIA-485 interfaces on a single PCI serial card and provide the ability to individually configure each interface type using software commands.

The UltraPort SI takes into account that today's low profile PCs and servers have limited PCI slots and organizations may have requirements for different serial ports to accommodate a variety of serial devices. By combining RS232, RS422 and RS485 ports on one card, the UltraPort SI requires only a single PCI slot. It also minimizes the need to install multiple drivers and takes less time to configure.

The UltraPort SI makes multi-server rollouts more practical since the hardware set up can be identical for each site, and software is used to configure each port as needed for each location. This means that organizations can fully standardize on systems being deployed at central and remote locations, making server replacement easy during servicing and the addition of new serial devices straightforward.

"System Integrators and VARs can now standardize on the hardware systems sold into mixed signal environments," said Al Davies, Director of Product Marketing at Perle Systems. "With the UltraPort SI, a standard unit can be shipped across a customer's multiple sites, regardless of specific serial devices deployed at each location. This minimizes last minute hardware configurations and speeds the selling process for our channel partners. It also reduces the cost of deployment and total cost of ownership for end users."

Designed to meet the highly electromagnetic and electrostatic environments found on factory floors and in carpeted environments in many retail stores and office locations, the UltraPort SI features industry leading protection from electrostatic discharges of up to 25K volts, providing safe and reliable server operation.

The UltraPort SI delivers maximum performance to a serial environment by supporting communication speeds of 921.6 Kbps on EIA-232 and up to 3.6 Mbps on EIA-422/485 connections. It is available in standard and low profile PCI card form factors and will work with all current Unix, Linux and Windows operating systems.

The Perle range of UltraPort SI serial cards is backed by Perle's unique limited lifetime warranty and world-wide technical support team.

About Perle Systems
Perle Systems is a leading developer, manufacturer and vendor of high-reliability and richly featured networking products. These products are used to connect remote users reliably and securely to central servers for a wide variety of business applications. Product lines include terminal servers, console servers, serial cards, USB to serial adapters, routers, remote access servers, network controllers, emulation adapters, and print servers. Perle distinguishes itself through extensive networking technology, depth of experience in major real-world network environments and long-term distribution and VAR channel relationships in major world markets. Perle has offices and representative offices in 13 countries in North America, Europe and Asia and sells its products through distribution and OEM/ODE channels worldwide.

North American Contact
May Fong
Tel: 905-946-5068

EMEA Contact
Miriam Webster
Tel: +44 (0)1908 847140