San Jose, Calif., Dec. 12, 1994 -- Cisco Systems, Inc., today announced that it has launched two new network partner programs designed to make it easier for large customers to both connect to the global internet as well as outsource the management of their network operations. Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. (BBN) has agreed be the first partner in both of these programs: Cisco's Preferred Internet Connectivity Provider Progam and Cisco's Preferred Network Management Provider Program.

"Clearly, the accelerating growth of the Internet service business with RBOCs, interexchange carriers, and PTTs is an increasingly strategic part of our sales activities," said Ed Kozel, Cisco's vice president of business development. "To help meet the needs of our partners in this area, we have created a cross-functional service provider organization within Cisco whose mission is to develop, implement, and manage these new customer-focused programs. Given their long-standing connection with the Internet, we are particularly pleased that BBN will be our first partner in both of these programs."

In conjunction with Cisco's announcement last week (December 8) of the acquisition of LightStream Corporation (Billerica, Mass.), Cisco contracted with BBN for the company to be the first of a limited number of partners in both of these programs. In both cases, Cisco will jointly market BBN's capabilities as an Internet service provider and as an outsourced network manager. Specifically, Cisco and BBN will co-develop sales leads, hold a number of joint seminars, and highlight BBN's capabilities on Cisco's CCO (Cisco Connection Online) service for its customers.

In related announcements, Cisco has contracted with BBN for the company to provide first-level Network Operation Center support for its US WAN. Through its BARRNET and NEARNET service areas, BBN will be Cisco's primary provider of high-bandwidth Internet connectivity. Additionally, BBN will supply a substantial number of frame relay connections to provide network connectivity for Cisco's sales offices in the United States. Cisco and BBN have also agreed to jointly market IP networks to RBOCs, IXCs, and PTTs.

Cisco Systems, Inc. is the leading global supplier of enterprise networks, including routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up access servers, and network management software. These products, integrated by Cisco's Internetwork Operating System (IOS) link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM networks. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, California and in the U.S. is traded under the NASDAQ symbol CSCO.

Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc. (NYSE:BBN) is a leading provider of internetworked systems that help people work and learn together. The company is currently celebrating the 25th anniversary of its development of the ARPANET, which led to the modern Internet. BBN HARK Systems Corporation captures data through large-vocabulary speech recognition systems. BBN's Internet Sevices Corporation transports data through managed Internet access and value-added services. BBN Software Products Corporation provides applications which extract useful information from data in a client/server environment. BBN Systems and Technologies provides advanced systems and technology integration services. For its fiscal year ended June 30, 1994, BBN had revenue of $196M.