SYDNEY - August 29, 2000 - Australia's largest telecommunications carrier, Telstra Corporation, has substantially increased the capacity of its Internet Protocol (IP) network in the United States in an agreement with Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet.

Telstra's move comes ahead of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games and an anticipated explosion in demand for IP capacity following the rollout of broadband Internet systems throughout the Asia Pacific region.

Telstra plans to double its existing Internet capacity between Australia and the USA to 1.4 gigabits per second (Gbps) before the Games. Organisers are expecting the primary Olympics.com website to alone receive up to 3 billion hits during the Games.

The additional capacity will form a key link in Telstra's rapidly expanding global IP network.

The upgrade extends an already strong relationship between the two companies. For instance, Cisco supplies the majority of equipment for Telstra's national Internet Backbone in Australia, Big Pond, and associated international IP gateways.

"This ambitious expansion augments our existing US Internet exchange in Palo Alto, California and will enable us to more effectively deliver Internet traffic throughout North America," said Mr John Hibbard, Telstra Managing Director, Global Wholesale.

New US network

In the USA, Telstra is constructing its own high-speed Internet backbone network using Cisco 12000 Internet routers and other systems. New points of presence ('POPs') have been established in Chicago, Los Angeles, New York, Palo Alto and Washington DC.

"Through the extensive deployment of Cisco equipment in its domestic and international IP networks, Telstra is creating a very cohesive and highly manageable Global network," said Terry Walsh, Cisco Systems Managing Director, Australia & New Zealand.

The North American network will substantially increase Telstra's presence in the US market, placing Telstra in the centre of the most dynamic, sophisticated IP backbone market in the world.

"In addition to enabling us to provide better services to our customers, this move substantially enhances our competitive position as a Global IP Carrier," said Mr Hibbard.

Telstra and Cisco

The USA rollout project was commissioned in April 2000 and completed by August, with Cisco handling much of the project deployment work directly in the USA.

Telstra and Cisco also recently completed project 'EpiCentre', a one gigabit per second Ethernet network for corporate users in Australia's major business centres.

"Telstra is a key customer for Cisco in the Asia Pacific region and increasingly on a global scale," Mr Walsh said. "We are very pleased to be working so closely with Telstra, both in terms of building networks and helping to market its services through the Cisco Powered Network program."