SAN JOSE, Calif., Nov. 14, 1994 -- Cisco Systems has introduced aseries of hardware and software products designed to give customers inIBM-oriented remote branch offices a comprehensive, flexible set ofsolutions for gaining access to corporate internetworks.

The new products (detailed in separate press releases) implementCisco's strategy for achieving effective IBM remote access, paving flexiblemigration paths to emerging client-server applications throughfunctionality supporting LAN-to-LAN connectivity, legacy protocols, accessto SNA networks via public WAN services, and flexible access tomainframe-based SNA applications.

"This is the most significant set of IBM-related announcements Ciscohas made since we outlined our original five-phase IBM internetworkingprogram in early 1991," said Nick Francis, Cisco's director of IBMinternetworking. "While other vendors have targeted point products atisolated parts of the IBM remote-access arena, Cisco provides the onlycomprehensive, integrated systems solution that addresses branch offices'need for consolidation, flexibility, manageability and cost control. Withthis combination of hardware platforms and enhancements to ourInternetworkOperating System [IOS], we are mapping out a clear path to theapplications of the future -- without leaving legacy applications behind."

New Products Target Array of IBM Remote Access Issues

• Three new products that let remote branch offices in IBM installations access SNA host computers more efficiently and inexpensively via frame relay and X.25 public networks. Cisco has added two software features to its IOS: support in SNA environments forRFC 1490,the industry standard for encapsulating SNA and multiple protocols over frame relay; and support for IBM's QualifiedLogical Link Control (QLLC) protocol, used by SNA devices to connect over an X.25 network. In addition, theCisco frame relay access device (CFRAD) is Cisco's first serial-only platformtailored for users migrating from SDLC to frame relay networks.

• The new NativeClient Interface Architecture (NCIA), which extends Cisco's Internetworking Operating System all the way to the desktop, providing access to SNA applications through the simpler and more flexible TCP/IP protocol. NCIA will be implemented as an option in third-party SNA host access software products; WallData, under a new agreement with Cisco, will be the first SNA client softwarevendor to support NCIA. Cisco has also introduced Downstream PhysicalUnit (DSPU) concentration, a software feature that enables routers to handle the physical unit concentration functions normally performed by SNA-LAN gateways.

• Router support for the BinarySynchronous Communication (BSC or "bisync") data-link protocol. This feature, which will enable users to consolidate bisync traffic with LAN and SDLC traffic, is of particular interest to the banking industry, which uses bisync extensively to transmit data from remote automated teller machines (ATMs) to corporate mainframes. Banks now can dispense with dedicated bisync facilities and use their existing internetworks for ATM-to-mainframe communication.

Cisco Systems,Inc., headquartered in San Jose, Calif., is the leadingglobal supplier of internetworkingproducts, including routers, bridges,workgroup systems, ATM and Ethernet switches, dial-up access servers,software routers and router management software. These products are usedto build enterprise-wide internetworks linking an unlimited number ofgeographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM SNA networks. Cisco'sInternetworkOperating System (IOS) technology, found in more than 250,000installed Cisco units and in the products of over 20 partners, is the defacto industry standard for data transmission. In the U.S., Cisco istraded over the counter under the Nasdaq symbol CSCO. A member of the S&P500 and Fortune 500, Cisco in fiscal 1994 logged sales of $1.2 billion.