SAN JOSE, CA., June 4, 2001 - Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced its next generation Internet Routers are providing the leading solution for carriers who want to deploy delay-sensitive applications such as voice and multimedia in IP networks. In performance tests conducted by Miercom, a leader in voice over IP lab testing, the Cisco 12410 Internet Router, with its industry leading quality of service (QoS) functionality, demonstrated unmatched performance in all of the critical functions required for real-time IP applications.

Carriers looking to deploy delay-sensitive IP applications require high network reliability while minimizing latency (assure packets arrive in real time), jitter (the variation in latency) and packet loss. Because voice traffic is extremely sensitive to delays in packet delivery, a router in a voice over IP (VoIP) core network must guarantee priority packet delivery, minimize end-to-end delay and jitter, and insure packet sequence integrity to deliver superior voice quality. The Miercom tests show that the high-priority, low-latency queuing functionality and priority-based congestion control capabilities on the Cisco 12410 Internet Router makes it the ideal choice for networks supporting real-time IP services, since it delivered very low latency and jitter with no voice packet loss and no re-ordered packets.

In this highly stressful test, a fully loaded Cisco 12410 Internet Router was tested, utilizing 32 OC-48 ports with a bursty traffic load that oversubscribed that system at 140%. Three classes of services were established: voice (6%), "business class", (20%), and un-prioritized (74%). A mixture of packet sizes was utilized, including a high percentage of large packets to fully stress the low latency queue in the system. (Latency will increase if small packets frequently wait behind large ones.) The Cisco 12410 delivered superior performance, transmitting 100% of the voice and business class traffic with an average latency of 50 microseconds and 54 microseconds, respectively.

"We set a very high bar in creating this test, emulating a 'worst case' real-world scenario," said Rob Smithers, president of Miercom. "The Cisco 12410 Internet Router cleared the bar with ease. We were impressed with the system's ability to deliver 100% of the packets while maintaining extremely low latency and jitter even when the system was heavily oversubscribed."

Like other members of Cisco's next generation Internet Router family, the Cisco 12000 series has priority-based congestion control, thousands of class of service queues including dedicated low latency queues, and an architecture that guarantees packet sequence integrity. Cisco is the only vendor that delivers all of these essential real-time IP features -- assuring reliable and robust delivery of voice, video and data services. All of this functionality is mandatory for IP backbones that support business critical, revenue generating, value-added services.

"Service providers today need to increase profitability by transitioning to platforms that can deliver voice, data and video services easily, quickly and reliably," said Deb Mielke, founder of Treillage Network Strategies, Inc. "Cisco's next generation Internet Router family provides a unique set of functions that guarantee the delivery of superior real-time IP services - an infrastructure that will enable service providers to maximize the service-enabled Internet."

Service providers rely on Cisco next generation routers

Forward-thinking service providers are relying on Cisco next generation Internet Routers to ensure a high degree of Quality of Service (QoS) in delay-sensitive IP applications. One of them is Global Crossing Ltd., which provides integrated telecommunications solutions, including network outsourcing, to large global enterprises over the world's first integrated global IP-based network.

"Having exceptional QoS in the IP backbone is essential to transporting real-time IP applications such as voice," said Jon Plonka, vice president of IP Network Engineering at Global Crossing. "We chose the Cisco 12400 Internet Routers for our OC-192 IP backbone because it has a unique set of QoS capabilities that enable us to deliver superior value-added services such as VoIP and VPNs."

Another service provider that sought out a Cisco end to end solution because of its QoS reliability is BroadRiver, which provides converged voice/data and high speed Internet access in three states. "The unique characteristics of time-sensitive traffic like voice and video makes it susceptible to packet delay and loss in the network. Using Cisco routers allows a next-generation service provider like BroadRiver to carefully control quality of service by assigning prioritization parameters to those packets carrying delay-sensitive traffic," said Tom Buttermore, Chairman and CEO, BroadRiver. "This critical advancement has enabled BroadRiver to provide its customers with true toll-quality voice services while maximizing the customers remaining bandwidth for data and Internet traffic through dynamic allocation."

Cbeyond Communications, a broadband applications services provider that offers voice and Internet-based applications to business customers over an integrated IP network, also turned to Cisco to satisfy its QoS performance requirements. "Real-time applications, such as voice, require a network infrastructure that insures good quality of service by minimizing delay and by controlling jitter. Cisco has designed an end-to-end solution that we feel accomplishes this," said Paul Pettyjohn, vice president, Network Architecture at Cbeyond Communications.

For a copy of the complete Cisco 12410 Internet Router test report, see www.mier.com.

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