News Release

Cisco Announces Carrier-Class Solution for Enhanced Voice Services in New World

VCO/4K Switch Brings Enhanced Voice Services to
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Nov 09, 1998

VCO/4K Switch Brings Enhanced Voice Services to AccessPath-VS3



SAN JOSE, Calif. -- November 9, 1998 -- Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced availability of the VCO/4K open programmable switch as an option for the Cisco AccessPath-VS3 (AP-VS3) carrier-class VoIP platform. The combined AP-VS3 and VCO/4K solution provides both emerging and established carriers with an efficient and cost-effective way to deliver a broad range of value-added voice services today, as well as support for mixed-environment networks. This news comes just days after Cisco completed its acquisition of Summa Four, the company that developed the VCO/4K switch.

The AP-VS3 is a fully integrated dial access system that enables quick deployment of toll quality voice and fax services over IP networks. The redundancy and hot-swappability features of the VCO/4K enhance the already high availability figures of the carrier-class AP-VS3.

The open telephony architecture of the VCO/4K has allowed over 50 industry leading software developers to create a broad selection of applications such as pre- and post-paid calling card, voice/fax messaging, single-number service, voice-activated dialing, and web-initiated conferencing. The variety of available applications makes rapid deployment of enhanced voice services possible because carriers are not required to wait for proprietary solutions developed by traditional switching vendors.

"The AP-VS3 with VCO/4K switching option will allow us to extend our offering of enhanced services, including pre-paid service and unified messaging to VoIP networks," said Kobi Alexander, Chairman, CEO and President at Comverse Technology, Inc. "The higher capacity and cost savings associated with the VCO/4K will enable our customers to swiftly respond to changing market needs and deploy additional services, on both circuit- and packet-based telephony networks." Comverse Technology is a world-leading supplier of enhanced services platforms to network operators.

As a mixed environment gateway, the AP-VS3 with programmable switching option enables Cisco customers to realize cost savings from least-cost routing between circuit and packet networks. Incoming calls to destinations that are not served by the packet-telephony network can be directly routed to the PSTN without occupying valuable DSP resources of the AccessPath-VS3.

Ofer Gneezy, president and CEO of VIP Calling said, "As part of the end-to-end Cisco solution we are deploying in The VIP Calling Network, the combined AP-VS3 and VCO/4K solution will enable us to more rapidly integrate and expand toll-quality packet telephony services on our network. The compliance of the VCO/4K and the AP-VS3 with a broad range of international telecommunications variants is key to the successful integration of the combined solution in The VIP Calling Network." VIP Calling is the leading wholesale provider of international Internet telephony services.

"Cisco's VOIP solution with integrated programmable switching allows nimble, market-oriented players like One.Tel to compete with larger circuit-switch carriers because it enables us to deploy new voice services faster and at a more competitive price," said Jodee Rich, Joint Managing Director, One.Tel Limited, an emerging carrier and new generation telephone company in Australia.

Key Features of the Access Path VS3 and the VCO/4K

The Cisco AccessPath-VS3 is the industry's first fully integrated dial access system that merges universal VoIP access, industry-leading switching and high-speed back-haul routing capabilities into a single, scalable architecture.

The VCO/4K is a fully redundant platform that scales from 24 to 4,088 ports, representing a new standard of density for open programmable switching platforms. It offers a broad array of integrated application creation and management software tools, and complies with worldwide telco standards.

Availability

The VCO/4K open programmable switch is available now as an option for the Cisco AP-VS3 platform.

Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO) is theworldwide leader in networking for the Internet.

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