Bank of China Selects Perle's IOLAN+ Serial Server for Branch Office Connectivity.

Business Editors

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 3, 2001

Perle Systems, (NASDAQ:PERL)(TSE:PL.) a leading provider of networking products for e-business access, today announced that the Bank of China has chosen the Perle IOLAN+ Serial Server for branch office connectivity.

In 2000, Bank of China began the implementation of a centralized computer initiative in which all corporate information would be stored on central servers. This initiative led to a restructuring of the bank's networking systems, including the need for serial servers to allow connectivity from the branch offices to the main computer systems.

Bank of China conducted an extensive vendor assessment consisting of beta testing and analysis by all provincial Bank of China branches. Perle's IOLAN+ was unanimously chosen as the serial server that best met the bank's standards for pricing and functionality.

CS&S rank the PERLE IOLAN+ range of IP serial servers as the top selling server solution in China. Its success is largely attributed to its ability to excel in both terminal server and remote access applications, providing users with the best serial to IP solution for distributed Windows and Unix environments.

"Perle's IOLAN+ is the most reliable product on the market. With its remote access management, user friendly and easy to manage features, it offers an efficient and cost-effective serial server solution for our networking needs. This, together with Perle's comprehensive post-sales service, are the reasons we chose Perle's serial servers, and began shipping them to the Bank of China several months ago" said Xiaodong Li, Project Manager, Bank of China Shangxi Branch.

"We have been looking forward to building our relationship with the Bank of China on this, as well as future projects. Perle's product has the highest market share and the most competitive pricing on the market. With Perle's lifetime warranty and our quality of service, we can ensure a successful network system implementation for the Bank of China," said Xu Jie, vice president of CS&S Network Technology Ltd.

About Bank of China

The Bank of China (BOC) Group in the Hong Kong - Macau region is a financial group comprising 13 member banks and a number of other specialized companies in Hong Kong and Macau, under the management of the Bank of China, Head Office. The Group provides a wide range of services such as commercial banking, investment banking, insurance, real estates and credit card operations. The BOC Group is the second largest banking group in Hong Kong, and the largest one in Macau. The 12 member banks of the BOC Group in Hong Kong account for nearly one fifth of Hong Kong's total banking deposits. For more information about the Bank of China and its services, access the Company's Web site at www.bocgroup.com.

About Perle Systems

Perle Systems is a leading developer, manufacturer and vendor of award-winning networking products. These products are used to connect remote users reliably and securely to central servers for a wide variety of e-business and general business applications. Perle specializes in Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity applications, with an increasing focus on mid-size IP routing solutions. Product lines include routers, remote access servers, serial servers, and multi-port serial cards and network controllers. Perle distinguishes itself by its ownership of extensive networking technology, depth of experience in major network connectivity environments and channel relationships in major world markets. Perle Systems has offices in 11 countries and sells its products through distribution channels worldwide. Its stock is traded on the Nasdaq Stock Market (symbol PERL) and the Toronto Stock Exchange (symbol PL). For more information about Perle and its products, access the Company's Web site at http://www.perle.com.