Denver, CO., August 28, 2000 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today introduced the industry's first non-intrusive tool for service providers to test and monitor wavelengths in their core optical networks. Test Access, a new optical test feature provisioned on the Cisco ONS 15900 Wavelength Router, allows service providers to improve network availability and give their customers evidence of service quality. The remote optical test capability also enables service providers to avoid expensive on-site visits (truck rolls) for provisioning and troubleshooting optical circuits.

The Test Access feature for the Cisco ONS 15900 Wavelength Router is an optical switching element that allows service providers to remotely monitor, troubleshoot or dissect the physical characteristics and integrity of optical circuits directly at the switching junction, the Cisco ONS 15900, without breaking the optical signal. By providing access to the actual circuit being tested, Test Access gives service providers a more reliable optical test method than setting-up test equipment with a parallel path through the network.

"Cisco's OC-48 Test Access has the potential to offer service providers a significant advantage in the deployment and operation of state-of-the-art optical networks," said Mark Lutkowitz, President, Trans-Formation, Inc, a market research firm that specializes in transmission and switching. "Through monitoring network performance and availability via their central offices, Test Access allows managers to immediately pinpoint trouble areas. By minimizing the time required to locate and fix network problems, the remote testing capability achieves an essential goal of service providers, to reduce operational costs."

"To remain competitive in the fast-paced telecommunications industry, where the rate of IP traffic is growing exponentially, service providers must strive to offer their customers mission critical network availability backed by 100 percent service level agreements," said Joe Bass, Vice President and General Manager of Cisco's Wavelength Routing Business Unit. "The ability to test and monitor optical circuits in the core optical network environment during service turn-up and trouble-shooting is critical for achieving this level of availability and network performance."

Test Access allows for traditional configurations of "monitor," "split" and loopback to be configured on an OC-48 optical port in the Cisco ONS 15900 Wavelength Router. This feature is provisioned on the element management system (EMS) interface to the ONS 15900. When Test Access is deployed, the ONS 15900 provides access to optical facilities and flexible provisioning of test access ports (TAPs). Test Access users can select a third party test instrument vendor that provides GUI equipment to perform tests including Layer 1 characteristics and/or protocol analysis.

As part of the Cisco New World Ecosystem Partner Program, Cisco has evaluated and granted membership to three test vendors that provide solutions for OC-48 and higher, and have remote capability. They include:

• Agilent Technologies (NASDAQ: A) - Agilent OmniBER products offer multi-rate SONET/SDH testing to 2.5 Gb/s, including concatenated payloads up to OC-48c/STM-16c, ATM, POS and jitter. Measurements include error/alarm generation, APS times, mixed payload detection, pointer sequence generation, jitter transfer and tolerance with ATM and POS payloads, and POS channelized testing. The analyzer's unique SmartTest facility provides a simple shortcut to key measurement tasks.

• Spirent Communications (LSE: SPT) - Spirent's acclaimed controller software for its Adtech AX/4000 Broadband Test System has a very intuitive graphical user interface (GUI). Test setup is logical and quick and when tests are running, the software displays real-time data and statistics that are thorough and easy to understand. Real-time histograms and charts provide a graphical view of traffic including inter-arrival times, transit delays, IP datagram lengths and any of four different measurements per time flow.

• Digital Lightwave (NASDAQ:DIGL) - Digital Lightwave is a leading provider of optical test products and technology. The company's portable Network Information Computers. provide easy-to-use installation and maintenance testing solutions for optical networks, including the industry's first truly portable analyzer for SONET/SDH at 10Gb/s. Its Network Access AgentsTM offer remote optical monitoring and analysis capabilities up to OC-192c/STM-64c, including ATM and multi-channel DWDM diagnostics.

The Cisco New World Ecosystem is a community of technology and deployment partners enabling service providers to rapidly deploy innovative networking services. Cisco New World Ecosystem partners support open, standards-based architectures and a shared commitment to interoperable, multi-vendor solutions.