SAN JOSE, Calif., April 3, 2000 - Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced the Cisco 10000 Edge Services Router (ESR), a carrier-class product for Internet service providers (ISPs) deploying high-density, dedicated-access IP services. The Cisco 10000 ESR makes it possible for service providers to offer advanced IP services to their customers without compromising performance or density. The highly scalable router is designed specifically to meet ISPs' volume, capacity and cost structure requirements. It allows them to lower operational costs by delivering the industry's highest T1 leased line aggregation density.

"Because demand for T1 and Fractional T1 services continues to rise at a rapid pace for Qwest, we require an aggregation platform that offers increased scalability, yet one that does not compromise space and power requirements," said Bill Felix, Vice President of Network Planning at Qwest Communications. "The footprint and density of the new Cisco 10000 Edge Services Router would allow Qwest to meet these demands while maintaining a consistent user interface that our operations staff is familiar using."

The Cisco 10000 ESR is based on Cisco's revolutionary Parallel eXpress Forwarding (PXF) architecture. PXF utilizes Cisco's latest parallel-pipelined network processor to deliver wire speed performance for a broad set of Cisco IOS. advanced IP services. The combination of a rich IOS feature set and PXF performance enables ISPs to increase revenues by deploying value-added services such as Premium Internet Access to customers in volume. The highly-scalable router delivers maximum expandability to handle growing customer populations and expanded service offerings. In addition, the Cisco 10000 ESR and its breakthrough architecture have been designed for maximum reliability and availability to support customers' ever-increasing dependence on network-based services.

"The Cisco 10000 ESR makes it possible for service providers to be able to turn on QoS features without degrading performance, for the first time," said David Passmore, Research Director with The Burton Group. "Given that capability, and the major role that Cisco routers currently play in ISP networks, the introduction of the Cisco 10000 ESR has to be regarded as an important development."

"Now, more than ever, ISPs are seeking a high-performance and high availability solution directed at the edge of their networks where value-added services can be applied. The Cisco 10000 ESR is specifically optimized for this market, offering new levels of scalability, density and performance," said Kevin Kennedy, Senior Vice President of Cisco's Service Provider Line of Business. "The ESR fits into Cisco's broad range of edge platforms and demonstrates a continued commitment to meeting service providers' edge requirements by delivering solutions that are unmatched in the industry."

Availability

The Cisco 10000 ESR is available now.