HELIUS ANNOUNCES REMOTE MANAGEMENT TOOLS FOR CUSTOMER PREMISE SATELLITE INTERFACE

OEMs Praise Features as Key to Large-scale Deployment of Satellite Data Services

OREM, Utah – Oct. 25, 1999 – As part of its strategy to make data-via-satellite services easier to use and simpler to manage, Helius today announced new tools for the management and support of large-scale Customer Premise Satellite Interface (CPSI) installations. Helius’ unique Virtual Technician (SM) remote management service now uses simple network management protocol (SNMP) for system performance monitoring, a new browser-based management console for ease of use, and architectural design to support development of customer specific applications like an onsite performance history log and proactive problem reporting.

"Helius is shifting data-via-satellite out of the technology industry and into the service industry," said Myron Mosbarger, president and chief executive of Helius. "With our Virtual Technician service enhancements we continue to remove the obstacles to widespread adoption of satellite data broadcasting. Recent activities with Philips, Motorola Computer Group (MCG), Fujitsu and Mitsubishi Electric confirm the viability of Helius’ CPSI strategy."

Philips Digital Video Systems Company announced Sept. 20 that the CleverCastPC Data Broadcasting System it will deliver to American Multiplexer features Helius CPSI technology in combination with the CleverCast PC-DVB Card developed by Philips. According to Jeff Rosica, vice president and general manager, Philips Digital Video Systems Company, North America NSO, "Helius technology gives users a well-defined and transparent satellite interface. The new Virtual Technician remote management tools further simplify the entire solution, which enables large-scale deployment with centralized system management. The benefits are reduced cost of ownership and maximum system availability."

Helius provides an SNMP reporting module and a management information base (MIB) to supply information on the device’s performance to the support center’s SNMP interface console. In this way, the service provider is able to remotely gather information about how the service is functioning (signal strength, on/off status, maintenance requirements, state of the service, etc.). SNMP and MIB are both standards in the telecommunications industry for hardware management.

"Fujitsu has 3.5 million users of its ISP service throughout Japan," said Akihiro Okada, section manager of the Business Network Division at Fujitsu Limited. "We have an administration center which remotely monitors the system 24 hours a day to prevent troubles and quickly fix problems when they occur. This monitoring and administration is based on remote maintenance using SNMP. With Helius’ new SNMP interface we are now able to utilize satellite services as part of our ISP system and support them with the same tools essential to maintaining a large-scale network system like ours."

The Virtual Technician Management Console gives service providers easy access to all "controls" of Helius’ Customer Premise Satellite Interface (CPSI). It has an intuitive graphical user interface (GUI) and is browser-based for universal availability – system managers can provide service regardless of their location or choice of operating system.

American Multiplexer Corp. (AMC) (Nasdaq:AMUT) (OTC BB:AMUT) will use Philips’ CleverCastPC to deliver services such as digital television, digital audio, web content "push" and high-speed Internet delivery via satellite. "The network monitoring and reporting features are essential for our plans of large-scale commercial distribution," said Douglas Hanson, vice president of sales and marketing at AMC. "The ability to give this level of support gives our customers tremendous confidence that they will receive the highest quality services essential for their business."

The Virtual Technician service architecture is also designed to support development of customer specific applications. For example, an onsite performance history log and proactive problem reporting system can be developed to send an automatic alert to the support center if problems occur at the customer site.

About Helius

Helius Inc. is the premier developer of data-via-satellite solutions and provides high-speed, affordable Internet access to tens of thousands of users worldwide. Helius is pioneering the customer premise satellite interface concept to improve the usability and management of satellite for large-scale OEM deployment across enterprise organizations and to consumer groups. A privately owned, Orem, Utah-based company founded in 1995, Helius is a holding under the Ray Noorda/Canopy Group Investment Company. Ray Noorda is the former chief executive of Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL). For more information visit http://www.helius.com or call 801-764-9020.

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