News Release

Cisco Expands Line of Affordable Switches for Small and Medium-Sized Businesses

New Catalyst Standard Edition Models Offer Improved Performance and Software Upgrade Path
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Dec 15, 1997



SAN JOSE, Calif. -- December 15, 1997 -- Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced the Cisco Catalyst. 1900 and 2820 Standard Edition switches, offering small and medium-sized businesses a low-cost, high-speed alternative to shared Ethernet hubs.

The new switches complement the recently announced Cisco Catalyst 1900 and 2820 Enterprise Edition switches, with the same compact size and improved performance. The Standard Edition switches can also be easily upgraded to the Enterprise Edition with an optional Enterprise Edition software upgrade kit.

The Catalyst 1900 and 2820 Standard Edition switches provide the performance of switching at a price comparable to a managed hub. Deployed alone or as part of a Cisco extended network system of modular, stackable LAN and WAN products, the Catalyst 1900 and 2820 Standard Edition switches are cost-effective solutions for accelerating the performance of individual PCs and existing hub-based workgroups.

"Small and medium-sized businesses can now take advantage of high-performance networking solutions that are reliable, flexible and expandable at an affordable price," said Bill Rossi, director of product management for the Small Internetworks Business Unit at Cisco Systems. "With the introduction of the Standard Edition switches, customers now have the flexibility to utilize intelligent switching technology - allowing a longer-termgrowth path - without having to pay extra."

High-Speed Switching

The Catalyst 1900 Standard Edition switches provide 12 or 24 full-duplex switched Ethernet ports to desktop users and high-speed connectivity between hub-based workgroups. The Catalyst 2820 Standard Edition switches provide 24 switched Ethernet ports and two modular slots, which support a combination of single or multiport Fast Ethernet, Fiber Distributed Data Interface (FDDI) and Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) interfaces. Both switches include an Ethernet AUI port. The Catalyst 1900 Standard Edition switches' two high-speed uplinks and the Catalyst 2820 Standard Edition switches' modular uplink allow customers the configuration flexibility and scalability they need to expand their networks.

Investment Protection

The Catalyst 1900 and 2820 Series Standard Edition switches are upgradable at any time to add Enterprise Edition functionality through the purchase of an optional Enterprise Edition software upgrade kit. The software upgrade incorporates additional Cisco IOS technologies that include Inter-Switch Link (ISL) virtual LANs, multiple ATM emulated LANs, Cisco GroupManagement Protocol (CGMP), embedded RMON and later, Fast EtherChannel.. An upcoming no-cost software upgrade will provide Standard Edition switch users with Web-based management for easy switch configuration using any standard Web browser.

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is theworldwide leader in networking for the Internet. athttp://www.cisco.com.

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