Supercomm Booth #10531

ATLANTA, GA + SAN JOSE, Calif., June 4, 2002 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), today raised the bar in 10 Gigabits per second (Gbps) internetworking with new interfaces for the 12000 Series Internet Routers based on Ethernet and Dynamic Packet Transport /Resilient Packet Ring (DPT/RPR) technologies. For Ethernet internetworking, Cisco is introducing the industry's first single port 10 Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) router line card designed to cost-effectively scale service provider Ethernet infrastructure. Cisco is also introducing the industry's first 10 Gigabit DPT/RPR line cards extending its leadership in RPR technologies. These new 10Gbps product introductions allow service providers to deploy the Cisco 12000 Series with the greatest architectural flexibility and versatility as they achieve 10Gbps economies of scale anywhere in their network.

The growing portfolio of 10Gbps products for the 12000 Series, coupled with its unparalleled high availability and line-rate performance, allows carriers to deliver a rich service portfolio designed to help service providers meet stringent Service Level Agreements (SLAs) while providing the building blocks for future revenue and bandwidth growth.

In a recent test by Miercom, an independent testing lab, it was determined that Cisco delivers the only routing platforms in the industry capable of maintaining customer connections and network traffic with zero traffic loss despite a route processor failure.

In this test, the Cisco 12000 Series experienced no disruption in traffic and zero packet loss due to innovative Cisco IOS Nonstop Forwarding (NSF) and Stateful Switchover (SSO) technologies. These proven results translate directly into a service provider's ability to meet ever-growing demand for service availability.

Since its initial deployment in 1997, the Cisco 12000 Series Internet Router has helped service providers grow their networks incrementally from 622 Mbps to 2.5 Gbps to 10Gbps today and soon to 40Gbps per slot without a forklift upgrade. This seamless investment protection offers service providers a proven lifecycle of products and technologies capable of growing with their networks and maximizing the value of their initial investment.

"Cisco is a leader in building highly scalable platforms for carrier-class IP networks and we have been able to use this capability to dramatically grow the size of Sprint's Global IP network using field upgrades of our many 12000 chassis, without the need to forklift out major network elements, and keep our overall unit capital costs under control," said Chase Cotton, data engineering director for Sprint. "Utilizing the Cisco 12000 in our IP networks when combined with Sprint's "Congestion Free Engineering" ^(SM) methodology allows Sprint to have networks with unsurpassed reliability and the industry leading Service Level Agreements that are demanded by today's business customers."

"With today's announcements, Cisco is underscoring its commitment to delivering highly available, highly scalable networks, which further demonstrates Cisco's laser-like focus on lowering total cost of ownership while helping service providers increase their overall profitability," said Deb Mielke, principal analyst, Treillage. "Cisco has long been recognized as the leader in the DPT/RPR arena, and this further expansion to 10Gbps speeds underscores its continued focus on meeting customer needs for high-value services with cutting edge solutions."

"With over five years in deployment, and over 20,000 units in networks worldwide, Cisco is proud to drive innovation and develop new paths to profitability for our customers via the 12000 Series," said Tony Bates, vice president and general manager, Internet POP Systems business unit at Cisco Systems. "Cisco's industry-leading technology allows us to deliver innovative new technology with maximized investment protection, enabling our customers to make incremental investments to add new capabilities while reducing total cost of ownership. We are particularly excited about these new products providing unmatched network flexibility and versatility for carrier IP/MPLS infrastructure."

Pricing

For more information on Cisco's portfolio of 10Gbps interfaces for the Cisco 12000 Series, visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/12000

About Cisco Systems

Cisco, Cisco Systems, the Cisco Systems logo, Cisco IOS, and Networking Academy are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries.