Polaris and Carrier Access Team to Deliver Powerful End-to-end Metro Optical Solution

Companies Partner to Help Service Providers Dramatically Reduce Costs and Accelerate Revenue-generating Services

SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA, May 29, 2002 -Polaris Networks, a manufacturer of new generation optical transport switching systems for the metro core, and Carrier Access Corporation (Nasdaq: CACS), a manufacturer of broadband access equipment, today announced a partnership enabling service providers an end-to-end metro optical service delivery solution that dramatically simplifies metro networks while reducing operating costs.

Under the terms of the joint sales and marketing agreement, the two companies will provide a comprehensive metro solution based on interoperability between their respective products. Polaris Networks' optical transport switch provides transport and advanced wideband/broadband digital cross connect capabilities over OC3 to OC192. Carrier Access' new Broad Bank™ 7000 provides optimized optical (OC12) to electrical circuit (DS1 or DS3/EC1) conversion and performance management.

The Polaris and Carrier Access solution consolidates equipment and operating costs extending from the metro backbone facility to the local offices or customer premise locations - giving ILECs, IXCs, wireless service providers and other carriers the benefit of a seamless, next-generation delivery platform.

The two companies plan to enhance the solution even further through common network management, allowing service providers to use point-and-click, flow-through, and end-to-end provisioning. This can reduce the number of provisioning steps and time to service revenue.

"We are pleased to be working with Carrier Access Corporation to deliver a winning metro solution to help service providers increase their profitability,"said Ray Kao, CEO and CTO of Polaris Networks. "Our agreement with Carrier Access allows us to jointly leverage a highly complementary product line, offering a best-of-breed solution that can flexibly and cost-effectively scale from DS1 to OC192."

"The power of the Carrier Access and Polaris solution is compelling. Our combined solution requires only 22 percent of the rack space and 20 percent of the cost of traditional approaches. For example, we can deliver 2016 DS1 interfaces in just one rack, compared to typical legacy digital cross connect systems that would require five or more racks of space,"said Roger Koenig, CEO of Carrier Access. "We are delighted to be partnering with Polaris to deliver a new generation of service provisioning capabilities."

"Today's environment dictates that service providers streamline their networks to reduce both capital and operations expenses while focusing on services," says Beth Gage, Executive Vice President of TeleChoice, Inc. "Partnerships between vendors, such as these, can help service providers work through operational issues more quickly and accelerate deployment. Combining platforms to address specific applications can additionally result in significant network cost savings for service providers."

About Polaris Networks

Polaris Networks develops new generation optical transport switching systems for metro core networks. From day one, its systems combine optical transport with extensive grooming and switching, managed via a GMPLS-based common control plane. Polaris' architecture is designed for native support of TDM, cell and packet traffic using a single software-defined switching fabric. This enables carriers to cost-effectively simplify their infrastructures, flexibly scale, and provides a smooth migration to a full multiservice intelligent architecture.

Polaris was founded in June 2000 and is staffed by teams from Alcatel, Cisco, Fujitsu, Nortel, Siemens, Tellabs, AT&T and WorldCom. The company is funded by Redpoint Ventures, Venrock Associates, Advanced Technology Ventures, SToRM Ventures and strategic private investors. For more information about Polaris Networks, please visit www.polarisnetworks.com/ or call 408-281-7466.

About Carrier Access

Carrier Access manufactures high-performance equipment for telecommunications carriers that helps to accelerate their revenue, lower operating costs and extend capital budgets. Founded in 1992, Carrier Access products have delivered more than 2.5 million voice and data lines for customers, including many incumbent carriers and top wireless service providers. The company focuses on broadband access from the central office to the customer premise; next-generation wireless infrastructure; and enterprise service delivery. Carrier Access products meet the industry's highest reliability and interoperability standards, including Telcordia® TIRKS/OSMINE, NEBS Level 3 and ISO 9001. For more information, visit www.carrieraccess.com/.

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding Polaris and Carrier Access delivering a simplified and cost-effective solution through its Broad Bank and optical transport switch products to various service providers. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual outcomes and results to differ materially. Many of the risks and uncertainties in Carrier Access's business are discussed in detail in its SEC reports, including the Form 10-K Report for the year ended December 31, 2001, and the Form 10-Q Report for the quarter ended March 31, 2002. All specifications are subject to change without notice. Carrier Access Corporation and Broad Bank are trademarks of Carrier Access Corporation. All other trademarks are owned by their respective companies.