LONDON, UK, July 19, 2000 - Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced a first milestone in delivering IP (Internet Protocol) telephony solutions to Poundland, a rapidly growing UK-based retail outfit.

Poundland will start by installing Cisco IP phones in all their branches across the UK. This will be scaled to a total of 270 by the end of the year. Poundland chose to invest in and end-to-end IP design to align their IT strategy with their business strategy. The company's goals are to re-engineer the flow of management information across the entire business, to reduce the on-going cost of ownership of the IT infrastructure and improve and streamline the supply chain management.

Currently, 30 sites at Poundland are undergoing installation procedures of the IP network which involves removing the existing shared LAN infrastructure and installing a switched LAN infrastructure which will guarantee the Quality of Service (QoS) necessary for an integrated voice and data solution. Plans are to complete installation at the remaining 32 sites by August 2000. Cisco Catalyst 6500 and 3524 switches, new Cisco 7960 IP phones, and Call Manager 3.0 will be essential components of the IT network. At Poundland's 62 remote sites, with Cisco's Call Manager 3.0 all outgoing calls will be gatewayed to the central site, which means that costs will be reduced dramatically. With Cisco AVVID, IP-enabled converged business applications enable increased productivity and a greater competitive advantage.

By October 2000, all of Poundland's legacy telephony equipment will replaced by Cisco Call Manager and Cisco 7960 IP Telephones.

Cable & Wireless, who are a Cisco Gold Partner at the forefront of this technology, have provided the solution including the leased circuits. The Cisco AVVID solution complements Cable & Wireless' strategy to provide customers with converged networks to maximise the emerging e-Enablement technologies.

George Oldridge, IT Director at Poundland said:

"Installing the correct network infrastructure was the first essential step and I chose Cisco and Cable & Wireless as partners because they lead the world in this area. With the new infrastructure in place I will be able to install and take advantage of the many benefits of and integrated infrastructure, including IP Telephony. Up until now we have suffered large inter-site costs as we have 62 sites in the UK. I am a great believer in IP Telephony and what IP is capable of doing for lowering costs so I am delighted that we have stopped investing in Old World technology. I have great faith and I know that this is really the only way forward."

Mr Oldridge continues:

"Because we are using the Cisco AVVID offering, we look forward to savings at the estimated value of #30,000 per year. I am also looking forward to Unified Messaging and the benefits that enhanced communications will bring throughout the business. "

"Poundland is demonstrating that IP telephony is the way to move forward for the modern Enterprise," said Paul Di Leo, Director of Enterprise Solutions, for Cisco in Europe, Middle East and Africa. "The intelligence of the network that is being installed will help the company to achieve the strategic goals of the enterprise, allowing flexible, scalable solutions that also award business benefits."

Poundland's plans for the future include an IP VPN migration as well as an expansion towards thin client technology.

Peter Green, Acting President UK & Ireland said:

"We have worked with Cisco on providing the best solution adapted to Poundland's business goals and objectives. With this IP infrastructure Poundland will be able to scale and adapt to the needs of their business."