May 6, 1997

WHAT:

• Cisco will be demonstrating its ability toimplement Tag Switching in ATM environments by connecting Cisco 7206 and Cisco7507 routers to a Cisco LightStream 1010 ATM switch and showing Tag Switching1sforwarding and control functionality. To show support for multiple linktechnologies, two of the 7507s will be connected via High Speed Serial Interfaces(HSSI). In addition to handling tag-switched packets, the LightStream 1010 willbe switching Voice traffic using the standard ATM Forum Circuit EmulationService, showing that Tag Switching and native ATM applications can be supportedon the same infrastructure in multiservice networks.

WHEN:

• From 10:00 a.m. to 6 p.m on Tuesday, May 6, and Wednesday May7, 1997. From 10:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, May 8, 1997.

WHERE:

• NetWorld+Interop, Las Vegas ConventionCenter in Cisco Booth #3725

WHO:

• Press, Analysts and NetWorld+Interop attendees interested inhigh-speed switching technologies.

About Tag Switching

Tag Switching is a technique for high-performance packetforwarding that assigns a label or "tag" to packets traversing a network ofrouters and switches. In a conventional router network, each packet must beprocessed by each router to determine the next hop of the packet toward its finaldestination. In a Tag Switching network, tags are assigned to destinationnetworks or hosts. Packets then are switched through the network with each nodesimply swapping tags rather than processing each packet. A Tag Switching networkconsists of a core of tag switches (either conventional routers or switches),which connect to tag edge routers on the network's periphery.

Benefits in service provider environments:

For multiservice networks, tagswitching enables the Cisco Stratacom BPX to provide ATM, frame relay, and IPInternet service all on a single platform in a highly scalable way. Supportingall of these services on a common platform provides operational cost savings anddeployment ease to multiservice providers. For ISPs using ATM switches at thecore of their networks, tag switching enables Cisco StrataCom BPX and CiscoLightStream 1010 ATM switches to provide a more scalable and manageable solutionthan just using ATM protocols. Tag switching avoids the scalability problem oftoo many router peers, and provides support for a hierarchical structure withinan ISP's network, improving scalability and manageability. For ISPs using purerouter networks, tag switching provides traffic engineering capabilitiespreviously found only on frame relay or ATM switches, enabling ISPs to optimizebandwidth utilization between cities in their networks.

Benefits in enterprise environments:

Tag switching enables the Cisco LightStream1010 or Cisco Stratacom BPX ATM switches to be used as very high speed routers inthe core of enterprise networks. Tag switching's blend of layer 2 speed and layer3 routing provides the performance and scalability required for very largeenteprise networks.

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO)is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. News and information areavailable at http://www.cisco.com.

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