WELLINGTON, New Zealand 25 October, 2000 - Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, and New Zealand's Ministry of Social Policy today announced the successful installation of one of the world's largest end-to-end Internet Protocol (IP) telephony networks outside of Cisco's own campus.

The Cisco AVVID (Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data) solution provides a single IP-based voice, video and data infrastructure connecting 8000 outlets in more than 200 Government offices throughout New Zealand. It is one of the largest single Cisco IP telephony network voice solution installations, and carries in excess of 150,000 calls a day.

The new IP Telephone system covers three Government agencies- the Ministry of Social Policy (MSP), the Department of Work and Income (DWI), and the Department of Child, Youth and Family Services (CYF). The IP phone system is the third and final stage of a $NZ9.4 million ($US3.7 million) infrastructure upgrade across all three departments. The Ministry of Social Policy is responsible for the project because it manages the Information Technology infrastructure for the three agencies.

The highly efficient infrastructure is based on Internet Protocol technology, which is capable of allowing voice traffic to be carried on the same network as data and video traffic. Partnering with Cisco Systems in this project are Logical Networks Ltd (multiservice network integrator) and CLEAR Communications (network providers).

The design included Cisco 1700, 2600 and 3600 Series routers at the branch offices connecting to Cisco 2900 Series switches for branch device connectivity. The ATM core was built around Cisco 7200VXR routers with Catalyst 5500 multilayer switches providing interconnection between the core and distribution layers at each of the four core sites.

This design approach, along with intelligent Quality of Service capabilities, resulted in predictable data paths and consistent latency throughout the network. The IP telephony solution is built using and Internet-based call processing model and logically overlays the Cisco network infrastructure.

Tim Hemingway, Cisco Country Manager for New Zealand, said; "I am delighted the Ministry of Social Policy selected Cisco to provide this advanced multiservice network. Not only will the network cut operational costs, it will provide a multiservice capability to better serve the organizations' needs."

The Chief Executive of the Ministry of Social Policy, Dame Margaret Bazley, said: "Combining phone and data systems provides significant benefits, including lower phone call costs, simpler network administration and support and increased flexibility to meet expanding telephone and computer network needs well into the future. "The project is taking advantage of Internet technology and networking services to increase capacity and reliability while minimizing operating costs," Dame Margaret said.

Murray Cresswell, manager of the MSP project for Cisco, said the IP based Cisco solution allows the MSP to relinquish legacy PBXs (Private Branch Exchange) and ancillary equipment along with the associated maintenance costs for these systems. Over 130 PBXs are being replaced with 10 Cisco Media Convergence Servers (MCS) running Cisco CallManager for call control and processing along with 20 Cisco voice mail servers for delivering networked messaging services.

CLEAR Communications Account Director Jack Riley said bandwidth to all the Ministry's sites had been upgraded to enable the migration to an IP platform. The network uses CLEAR's ATM backbone with access via frame relay for a resilient and flexible solution. All calls on the system are charged at the local rate, creating a toll-free environment.

Logical New Zealand Managing Director, Murray Jurgeleit, said; "Cisco's AVVID technology presents a pretty compelling case for medium to large companies thinking about running a multiservice network solution over IP. The Cisco-Logical partnership has created a great deal of interest in New Zealand. I think it's a very important strategic opportunity for Logical".

Note to Editors: There will be a brief conference call with the Ministry of Social Policy held on Tuesday, October 24th, 2000 at 3pm PST (Wednesday, October 25th, 2000 at 11:00am NZ time) to provide further background. Those interested in participating should call Rebecca Noriega at 408 853 5819.