     

       ARTISOFT(R), INC. ACQUIRES MODEM SHARING TECHNOLOGY

     

      (TUCSON, AZ -- November 28, 1995) -- Artisoft, Inc. (Nasdaq: 

ASFT) today announced it has acquired substantially all of the 

assets of Synergy Solutions, Inc. in a cash transaction valued at 

$1.3 million.  The principal assets acquired are modem sharing and 

communications software which enable modem and phone line sharing 

across a local area network.

      William C. Keiper, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer

said, "The ability for people in a workgroup to access one or a 

limited number of modems or phone lines is important to their 

productivity.  The technology and products we have acquired from 

Synergy provides an immediate foundation for delivering this 

capability through the Artisoft channels of distribution.  The 

Synergy products, including Modem Assist Plus, operate with a wide 

variety of network technologies, and enable optimized use of 

leased telephone lines.  We have previously indicated our 

intention to be more comprehensive in our approach to addressing 

the communications requirements of workgroups in small and mid- 

sized businesses, and the acquisition of the Synergy products and 

technology is another step in this direction."

      Mr. Keiper also stated, "The ability for workgroups to

access the external world of on-line services and the Internet can 

be improved by the communications software which is available 

within the local area network for accessing those resources. 

Because many businesses have a single or a limited number of phone 

lines, the Synergy technology is an enabler for accessing the 

highly distributed resources available outside the local area 

network."

      For more information on Synergy Solutions, Inc.,  a

backgrounder is attached to this press release.

      Artisoft is the world's leading supplier of easy-to-use,

powerful and affordable networking solutions designed to increase 

connectivity and communications within and between small and mid- 

sized businesses.  The company offers the award-winning LANtastic 

network operating system as well as network management, backup and 

multiplatform connectivity systems.  Artisoft maintains nine 

offices outside the United States, and distributes its 

connectivity products in more than 100 countries.

      For more information about Artisoft or its product line,

contact Artisoft, Inc. at 2202 North Forbes Boulevard, Tucson, AZ 

85745.  Sales Consultation Center 800/233-5564.  Corporate 

520/670-7100.  Fax 520/670-7101.  World Wide Web home page 

http://www.artisoft.com.  Recent Artisoft press releases are 

available at no charge through PR Newswire's Company News On-Call 

fax-on-demand system; call 800/758-5804 and enter company number 

107158.

                               ###

     

     

                      Synergy Solutions, Inc.

                          Backgrounder

     

      Synergy Solutions, Inc. was founded in October of 1992 to

develop, market and support a line of network synchronous 

communication products that would be easy-to-use and affordable 

for network users.  Synergy's first product, Modem Assist Plus, 

positioned Synergy as one of the early leaders in the network 

modem sharing market.  Over time, Synergy developed several 

complementary communication products including a data 

communications package called INSYNC and the SS-554 and SS-558 

multi-port serial cards.

      Synergy Solutions was initially founded as a sales,

marketing and support organization for the modem sharing 

technology developed by Softwarehouse Corporation of California. 

Softwarehouse developed and owned the core technology of Modem 

Assist Plus and for the first two years Synergy licensed the 

technology from Softwarehouse.  On January 1, 1995, Synergy and 

Softwarehouse announced a merger of the two companies bringing all 

of the technology under the Modem Assist Plus name.  The merger 

between the two companies opened up several key strategic 

relationships helping Synergy Solutions more than double 1994 

revenues in 1995.

      Synergy has been focused on two main objectives.  The first

objective is to provide low-cost communication solutions that 

operate with a wide variety of network technologies.  The second 

objective is to provide Synergy customers with the best technical 

support and customer service available in the industry.  During 

the past three years Synergy has kept the Modem Assist Plus modem 

sharing technology up-to-date with both network and desktop 

operating systems by releasing several new upgraded versions at 

prices that make sense.  Providing superior technical support by 

telephone and through on-line services like CompuServe and the 

Internet has not only helped Synergy cultivate excellent 

relationships with its customers, but has positioned the company 

as an authority in the area of remote access.

      Modem Assist Plus is a software solution that allows phone

lines and modems to be shared across the LAN.  Modem Assist Plus 

offers several cost-saving and productivity benefits.  Since Modem 

Assist Plus can easily be set up as a dedicated or non-dedicated 

communication server by using existing PCs modems and phone lines, 

the initial investment to set up modem sharing is minimized.  The 

true cost savings from using Modem Assist Plus are realized by 

optimizing the use of leased telephone lines.  Modem Assist Plus 

also enables users to increase their productivity because they can 

use communications and fax software from their own desktop instead 

of walking elsewhere to use a modem.

      Version 4 is the third major release from Synergy and

includes a Windows DDL Client, redirection of any Windows Fax of 

data communication software, Windows and DOS modem menus, NetWare 

and NetBIOS/NetBEUI support, dynamic INT14 and NASI support, 

communication management console, inbound password protection, 

activity logging, conference calling and automatic time-out. Modem 

Assist Plus was named Networking Product of the Month in the July 

1994 issue of PC World.

      In 1994 Synergy release their own line of multi-port serial

cards based on the 16C554 UART chip.  The technology of this new 

chip allowed Synergy to develop a very compact board, only four 

inches square, that would support up to four external modems. 

Because of its small size, the SS-558 is very easy to install -- 

even in small footprint PCs that are crowded with other 

peripherals.  The SS-554 can simultaneously support four channels 

at speeds of 115,200 bps while using only one hardware interrupt. 

In 1995 Synergy released their SS-558 multi-port serial card which 

incorporates two 16C554 UART chips and supports up to eight 

simultaneous external connections at speeds of up to 115,200 bps 

and provided the option of using either one or two hardware 

interrupts.

      In early 1995, Synergy Solutions embarked on a strategic

relationship with Cheyenne Software by incorporating a 5-user 

license of Cheyenne's BitWare product into all copies of Modem 

Assist Plus.  This bundle provides users of Modem Assist Plus with 

the data communication and faxing capabilities of the award- 

winning BitWare product.  Also as a result of Synergy/Cheyenne 

relationship, Cheyenne Software released BitShare, a network modem 

sharing product that shares up to four modems on a network.  

