NEW DELHI, India - January 17, 2001 - Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, is increasing its commitment to research and development activities on next-generation networking technologies and solutions to US$200 million,an increase of US $50 million over what was previously announced in August, 2000. John Chambers, president and CEO of Cisco Systems made the announcement during his inaugural visit to India, which ends today.

Cisco's investment will go toward expanding the Cisco Global Development Center in Bangalore, which currently employs over 400 engineers and occupies over 275,000 square feet. In addition, the investment will promote five development centers with HCL, Infosys, Wipro in Bangalore and Chennai. Cisco projects that it will need to expand its engineering workforce in India by 300 percent over the next three years to meet its growth projections.

"The Internet is a historic change agent and governments around the world understand the strong correlation between effective use of the Internet and economic success," said Chambers. "In the Internet economy, companies will invest their financial resources around the globe based on expertise. We are expanding our presence in India to take advantage of the research and development talent and to demonstrate our commitment to this government and its people. Our Global Development Center is a critical component of our future success."

Chambers discussed Cisco's investment plans in India with Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Minister of Information Technology Pramod Mahajan while in New Delhi this week.

Cisco Systems India Private Limited (CSIPL) currently employs approximately 500 people in the Cisco Global Development Center in Bangalore and in its sales offices in New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai and Calcutta. In addition, employees from Cisco's partner development centers are fully dedicated to supporting Cisco's R&D efforts in the Cisco Wipro Development Center, the Cisco Infosys Development Center in Bangalore and the Cisco HCL Development Center in Chennai.

Cisco's Global Development Center, together with its partner centers, conducts the development and testing of Cisco IOS software, Network Management Software, ASICs and as other technologies such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Voice over IP (VoIP) and Optical Internetworking.