Cisco Delivers Key Elements for Scaling the Internet

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- September 8, 1997 -- Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced extensions to the industry's most comprehensive suite of Internet Solutions including the new Cisco 12000 series Gigabit Switch Router (GSR) and the new Cisco Cache Engine for scaling Internet World Wide Web traffic. Cisco's Internet solutions are based on a broad range of integrated, high-performance platforms delivering intelligent end-to-end network services. According to industry analysts, Cisco's networking platforms and software comprise more than 80 percent of the global Internet backbone infrastructure. With this networking experience and world-class support capabilities, Cisco is able to deliver integrated solutions enabling service providers to offer scalable Internet services.

Cisco 12000 Series -- Industry's First Gigabit Switch Router

The Cisco 12000 series provides scalable IP forwarding and services performance in a carrier-class platform, enabling high-speed IP backbones to scale to OC-12, OC-48 and in the future, OC-192 (9.6 Gbps). Cisco's 12000 series will initially include a 12-slot model, the Cisco 12012, with switching capacity from 15 Gbps to 60 Gbps, and a 4-slot model, the Cisco 12004, with switching capacity of 5 Gbps. Cisco's Gigabit Switch Router platforms support a combination of IP over SONET/SDH and ATM interfaces, including Gigabit Ethernet and other high-speed media.

The Cisco 12000 series enables the Internet to scale not only in bandwidth and performance, but also in supporting advanced services and a higher level of robustness. To deliver advanced services, the Cisco 12000 series incorporates a Silicon Queuing Engine (SQE) on each line card that provides sophisticated packet handling to meet quality-of-service (QOS) commitments at gigabit speeds. The Cisco 12000 series also supports optimized handling of multicast features that are used in services to support multimedia and distance learning applications. To enhance network availability, the Cisco 12000 intelligently interacts with SONET/SDH transmission equipment to achieve automatic protection switching (APS) across standby links in the case of facility failures. With extensive redundancy and compliance with carrier equipment standards, the Cisco 12000 series is expressly designed to provide the high availability required in Internet service provider (ISP) backbones.

The Cisco 12000 series complements the Cisco 7500 Series, the premier platform for dedicated Internet access and aggregation and for Internet backbone applications at OC-3 (155 Mbps) and below. Both the Cisco 7500 and Cisco 12000 series operate scalable and service-rich Cisco IOS Software, providing high-performance queuing and traffic engineering services to support IP QOS offerings. Like the Cisco 7500 series, the Cisco 12000 series will support Tag Switching, a Cisco IOS Software technology that helps scale IP networking by integrating routing and switching functions in both packet-based and ATM-based networks. Tag Switching is currently being evaluated for standardization in the Internet Engineering Task Force's (IETF's) Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) working group.

"The Cisco 12000 platform provides us with the ability to scale our routed backbones to OC-12 and OC-48 as we work to deliver superior service to our customers through a period of unprecedented growth and demand," said Paul Bosco, vice president, Internet products and technology for MediaOne. "Cisco's 12000 GSR is a central infrastructure element in our packet over SONET network strategy, allowing us to deliver high-speed, media rich services. Our initial deployment will dramatically enhance interconnect performance within our core network and from the network to several key institutional customers.

Cisco Cache Engine Delivers Bandwidth Savings and Accelerated Access

The Cisco Cache Engine is a carrier-class, high-speed dedicated Internet appliance that allows network operators to reduce wide-area network (WAN) usage costs while providing accelerated Web access for users. By storing Web pages in a local network cache, the system significantly reduces redundant Web traffic, which can account for a large percentage of WAN usage. Once the Cache Engine is populated by an initial Internet content request, subsequent requests for the same Web page are delivered locally. The Cisco Cache Engine can support about 500,000 users at a single point of presence and store approximately 25 million Web pages. Caches are updated regularly according to the time-sensitivity of their content.

The Cisco Cache Engine is the industry's first highly scalable caching product that requires no client configuration, making it 100 percent transparent to the user. It achieves this transparency by intelligently interacting with Cisco IOS software operating on Internet routers. Up to 32 cache engines can be combined to form a cache farm, providing both highly scalable performance and fault-tolerance. The Cisco Cache Engine can be deployed in a hierarchical fashion, saving bandwidth at Internet backbone Network Access Points (NAPs), service provider Points of Presence (POPs) and enterprise central and remote office locations.

" Performing Internet routing and switching at gigabit speeds, Cisco's new 12000 series is the first in a new product class of gigabit switch routers. The Cisco 12000 GSR meets the growth in demand for Internet bandwidth and brings scalability and high-performance services to IP-based networks. Internet traffic volumes are rapidly increasing, driven by the World Wide Web, networked commerce, multimedia and new voice-based applications. Designed to meet future Internet traffic requirements, the Cisco 12000 GSR initially supports IP backbone links at OC-12 (622 Mbps) -- four times faster than those used today -- and can scale to handle links at OC-48 (2.4 Gbps) which is sixteen times faster than today's links. The Cisco 12000 series is currently deployed in several Internet backbone networks.

Leadership Services, Platforms and Networking Solutions

"Gigabit switch routing is vital to the support of growing IP-based public network services and for exploiting the dark fiber being installed in reaction to telecom reform," said Tom Nolle, president of CIMI Corporation, a telecommunications consultancy based in Voorhees, NJ. "But there's more to a network than the gigabit switch router core. Cisco's broad product line provides the broader support of IP service creation that carriers, ISPs and enterprises will need to build business applications on IP network foundations." Nolle continued, "The features of a service network start where the user and network touch, and continue through the core. Through this whole flow, network features have to interplay effectively to manage quality of service and enforce network policies for connection and control. Only a full-service vendor can be assured of this kind of end-to-end service management capability."

Cisco's solutions for helping service providers meet growing Internet backbone requirements focus on the ability of network operators to maximize service levels by deploying intelligent network services. Other elements of Cisco solutions for scaling the Internet include high performance platforms including the Cisco 7500 series of high-end routers, StrataCom. BPX. ATM switches with OC-12 capabilities and the " + name +""; }); } //////////////End - Executives Landing Page Hot Fixes /////////////