Press Release

LAS VEGAS, Apr 8, 2002 (BUSINESS WIRE) --

New Narrowcast Services Gateway Supports Proprietary Encryption Systems Which are Widely Deployed in North America

Harmonic Inc. (Nasdaq:HLIT) today announced an extension to the Narrowcast Services Gateway(TM) (NSG) product line that employs Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) to increase video-on-demand (VOD) network scalability and capacity. The NSG family of compact VOD gateways enables all cable operators to leverage the cost-effectiveness and flexibility of GbE transport and switching, whether using open standards-based or proprietary conditional access systems. The new NSG 8200 is specifically designed to support the proprietary encryption systems which are widely deployed in North America. The NSG 8200 is available now.

"A major challenge for the cable operators is to cost-effectively and efficiently upgrade their networks as they deliver new bandwidth-intensive interactive services such as content-on demand. The NSG 8200 brings to proprietary networks many of the advantages of a Gigabit Ethernet access network including scalability, flexibility and incremental expansion," said Dr. Yaron Simler, President of Harmonic's Convergent Systems Division. "The NSG 8200 addresses key infrastructure issues and, for this reason, we anticipate it will be readily adopted by cable operators who are introducing advanced digital services. In particular, we are seeing significant interest among U.S. MSOs as they accelerate their implementation of VOD services."

    New Gateway Supports Gigabit Ethernet and Proprietary Environments

The NSG 8200 features a DVB-ASI output, a common interface for proprietary QAM devices, and a Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) input. The NSG's support of both standard and proprietary network interfaces allows the introduction and further deployment of open technologies. GbE, for instance, can simultaneously carry approximately up to 240 broadcast quality MPEG-2 streams, making it more efficient and cost-effective to deploy than transport technologies such as ASI, SONET/SDH, and ATM.

The new NSG system is optimized for environments where the VOD server is centrally located and the QAM devices reside in the distributed hubs. The GbE interface allows NSGs to be co-located with the video servers in the cable headend or distributed to the hubs, enabling a more flexible and scalable architecture for provisioning content-on-demand services.

    About the NSG Product Family

The NSG 8100 and 8200 systems are the most compact VOD gateways available today. Their one rack unit size enables thousands of subscribers to be supported within a single rack, greatly reducing the cost and complexity of provisioning VOD services. The NSG product line processes streams from multiple high capacity servers as well as provides multiplexing, program filtering and routing, conditional access scrambling, and either integrated QAM RF or multiple ASI interfaces. The NSG product family interoperates with leading VOD servers, set-top boxes and conditional access systems.

A user-friendly web-based utility streamlines the configuration and maintenance of distributed NSG systems. Harmonic's network manager or an alternative SNMP-based management system provides project-wide monitoring. Out-of-band management can be accomplished via the serial port and an extensive command line interface.

    About Harmonic Inc.

Harmonic Inc. is a leading provider of digital video, broadband optical networking and IP delivery systems to cable, satellite, telecom and broadcast network operators. Harmonic's open standards-based solutions for the headend through the last mile enable customers to develop new revenue sources and a competitive advantage by offering powerful interactive video, voice and data services such as video-on-demand, high definition digital television, telephony and Internet access.

Harmonic (Nasdaq:HLIT) is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California with R&D, sales and system integration centers worldwide. The Company's customers, including many of the world's largest communications providers, deliver services in virtually every country. Visit www.harmonicinc.com for more information.

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, statements concerning the benefits of the NSG product line, the adoption of the NSG 8200 by cable operators, and the acceleration of implementation of VOD services, within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. In addition, actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of the risk factors set forth in documents that Harmonic files with the SEC, including reports on Form 10-K and 10-Q.

Editor's Note: Product and company names used here are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

CONTACT:          Aries MarketMasters (Media Relations for Harmonic)
                  Dawn Danaher, 714/378-5841
                  danaher@keymaster.com
                  or
                  StreetConnect (Investor Relations for Harmonic)
                  Michael Newman, 408/542-2760
                  mnewman@stct.com

URL:              http://www.businesswire.com
Today's News On The Net - Business Wire's full file on the Internet
with Hyperlinks to your home page.

Copyright (C) 2002 Business Wire.  All rights reserved.