MENLO PARK, Calif., Mar. 1, 1993 -- Cisco Systems will begin shipping an Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN)multiprotocol router specifically adapted for the French, Germanand North American markets in April.

French, German and North American availability of the Cisco3000 ISDN Router follows a Japanese market version that beganshipping in October 1992. ISDN is an international standard fortransmitting digitized voice, data, text, graphics, music andvideo over existing telephone wiring.

Initial shipments of the router will support AT&T's 5E6 ISDNspecification for its 5ESS switch in the United States, the VN2specification for Basic Rate access in France, the 1TR6specification for Basic Rate access in Germany, as well as thecurrent NTT signaling for Japan. Support for Northern Telecom'sDMS switch signaling specifications and the emerging Bellcorestandard, known as National ISDN-1, will follow in the second halfof 1993.

The Cisco 3000 is the first multiprotocol router to integratea terminal adapter for direct connection to an ISDN circuit-switched network. The Cisco 3000 is a single-board router withone Ethernet port and one ISDN Basic Rate Interface (BRI). AnISDN BRI supports one 16-Kbps signaling (D) channel for controlinformation between the router and the ISDN switch and two 64-Kbps(B) channels for data to be sent through the ISDN network. TheCisco 3000 can use the two B channels for two independentconnections with different destinations, thus providingsimultaneous connectivity to two other remote locations.

Christine Hemrick, Cisco's software product marketingdirector, said that the Cisco 3000 ISDN router "reduces the costand improves the productivity of branch office internetworking byusing ISDN as an alternative to costly leased lines or slowasynchronous dial-up connections."

When the Cisco 3000 is sending data, it establishes an ISDNcircuit, transfers the information over either of two 64-Kbpschannels, then disconnects the circuit; the user pays only foractual time used. The entire circuit establishment process takesseveral seconds, instead of the 30 to 60 seconds required byanalog modems on regular telephone lines.

The first multiprotocol device to integrate internetworkrouting with ISDN circuit-switching, the Cisco 3000 can connectremote Ethernet LANs running TCP/IP, IPX, SNA and other protocolsover ISDN BRI lines to another ISDN router or to a larger CiscoAGS+ hub router at a distant site.

Based on a 20-MHz MC68030 processor, the Cisco 3000 ISDNRouter has four megabytes of DRAM memory, expandable to 16 MB. Itis a member of the Cisco 3000 family of low-end internetworkrouters, a line of fixed-configuration, multiport platforms.

Pricing/Availability

Priced at $6,995 (U.S. list), the Cisco 3000 ISDN Router will be availablein April in France, Germany and the United States.

Cisco Systems, Inc., is theleading worldwide supplier ofhigh- performance, multimedia and multiprotocol internetworkingproducts, including routers, bridges, communication servers androuter management software. Cisco technology can be used to buildenterprise-wide networks linking an unlimited number ofgeographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM SNA networks. In theUnited States, Cisco is traded over the counter under the NASDAQsymbol CSCO.