SAN JOSE, Calif. - July 9, 2001 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, announced today that its market leading ONS 15454 Metro Optical Transport Platform has completed the comprehensive Telcordia Technologies, Inc. ^TM OSMINE^TM process for operations support system (OSS) interoperability. To streamline operations, the Operations Systems Modification of Intelligent Network Elements (OSMINE) process supports the interoperability of network elements and OSSs for incumbent carriers before new networking equipment is deployed. The ONS 15454 has completed testing with the Telcordia TIRKS, NMA, and Transport Element Activation Manager operations support systems.

"The OSMINE process is a critical requirement for established carriers and the ONS 15454 is the first metro optical transport platform to achieve this certification for both TDM capabilities and Ethernet-based services support," said Tom Fallon, Vice President and General Manager of Optical Transport, Cisco Systems. "With interoperability for NMA, TIRKS, and TEMS OSSs, the market leading ONS 15454 gives service providers increased service density - through Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and TDM services in one metro transport platform - that maximizes legacy OSS investments. Completing this process is a significant achievement which further extends Cisco's optical market share leadership in the metro."

Integration with existing and often complex operations support systems can prove to be an insurmountable, costly challenge for service providers adding new capabilities to an expansive network infrastructure. Telcordia OSMINE Services enables automated OSS functionality and flow-through provisioning to reduce the complexity and cost of operations support, allowing service providers to accelerate time to market with profitable new services.

"Telcordia's software systems support approximately 80 percent of established telecommunications infrastructures. With OSMINE Services, we minimize the impact of OSS integration for new network equipment and create automated solutions which enable our service provider customers to maximize the benefits of new network technologies," said Dennis Tinley, Vice President, Operations Support Systems, Telcordia Technologies, Inc. "Cisco's participation in the OSMINE Services process supports this vision and allows incumbent carriers to enhance their networks with multiservice metro optical transport."

The Telcordia operations support systems comprise key OSS functionality and successful testing with all three systems represents a significant achievement:

• The NMA system is a network monitoring and surveillance operations support system.
• The TIRKS System is an integrated system that supports the total network provisioning process for special service circuits, message trunks, and carrier circuits. It also provides inventory management of facilities and equipment.
• The Transport Element Activation Manager eliminates the service activation bottleneck by managing the elements in multivendor transport networks.

"Cisco's completion of OSMINE testing on its ONS 15454 is a significant milestone, opening up the door to an immense market opportunity," said Mark Lutkowitz, Vice President of Optical Networking Research, CIR. "I am confident that Cisco will make substantial penetration into the RBOC service provider space with this multiservice device."

With over 600 customers and 25,000 systems deployed, the ONS 15454 is the most rapidly accepted metro optical transport platform in the industry. As a key part of Cisco's IP+Optical portfolio, the system delivers radical economic benefits to today's service providers through flexible, supercharged SONET/SDH transport, integrated optical networking with ITU Grid Wavelengths and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), and unprecedented multiservice interfaces including new high-density OC-12 and line rate Gigabit Ethernet service interface cards. Additionally, recently introduced OC-192 capabilities for the ONS 15454 further expand its capacity and unrivaled scalability.

Completion of the OSMINE process extends Cisco's robust operations and management capabilities for its ONS platforms. The Cisco Transport Manager (CTM) element management system and Cisco Transport Controller (CTC) craft software complement the extensive operations software from Telcordia to provide established carriers with enhanced ONS 15454 deployment, comprehensive coverage of operations, maintenance, administration, and provisioning (OAM&P) functions, and a seamless migration path to next generation operations support systems.

About Cisco IP+Optical Solutions

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