SAN JOSE, CA. May 21, 2001 — Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced the availability of the new Cisco ATA 186, an Analog Telephone Adaptor that turns a traditional telephone into one capable of making voice over IP (Internet Protocol) calls.

With the Cisco ATA 186, service providers now can offer revenue-generating IP telephony-based services, such as second line, Internet voice mail, and unified messaging to their residential broadband customers. The Cisco ATA 186 can be deployed on existing infrastructures — allowing service providers to begin moving their customers to a converged network architecture.

Service provider customers will be able to use this device to take advantage of broadband connections, including cable modems, xDSL, and fixed wireless. The Cisco ATA 186 is installed at the customer's premise and supports two voice ports, each with its own independent phone number. In addition to getting the same voice quality they are used to getting from the public telephone network, customers using the Cisco ATA 186 also will receive considerable cost savings.

"As part of our strategy to provide complete end-to-end solutions, Cisco is introducing the ATA 186 so that service providers can offer their customers another cost-effective way to reap the benefits of VoIP," said Alistair Woodman, director of marketing, Voice Technology Center at Cisco.

Service Providers Offering Bundled Voice and Data with the Cisco ATA 186

Voicenet Communications, a leading Philadelphia-based Internet Communications company, has deployed the Cisco ATA 186 for its Digital Telephone Service customers. "By using this VoIP access device, Voicenet customers simply plug into any dedicated, high-speed Internet connection and immediately have two or more IP telephone lines that can be used for voice or fax calls without the need or expense of having the phone company install new circuits," stated Voicenet President Carmen DiCamillo. "In addition, these Voicenet lines are digital, which means that our business and residential customers can now enjoy the benefits of converged IP voice and data communications. This provides the savings, unique services, and business solutions not available from the technology used by the traditional phone companies."

Voicenet's patent pending "Local Presence" is an example of such a feature, offering customers the ability to select as many phone numbers as they want from cities throughout the US that ring their Digital Telephone Line. And, with Voicenet's web based Automated Telephone Manager, customers can change these virtual telephone numbers and manage feature-rich services such as voicemail, call forward and caller ID, at their leisure.

In addition to the Cisco ATA 186, Voicenet's network core relies on the Cisco AS5300 and Cisco 3600 voice gateways. At the application layer, Voicenet relies on Cisco Service Provider Solutions Ecosystem partner NetCentrex for a multi-protocol softswitch and media server platform.

Mexico's Fonet also relies on the Cisco ATA 186 to deliver its VoIPNet service to corporate customers, with connection available to the PSTN in Mexico and international service using the

iBasis global network. Fonet also provides similar services to residential customers. With the Cisco ATA 186, Fonet customers save up to 30% on domestic calls and at least 70% on international calls. When their customers make "fone to fone" calls, they save 95%. "We wanted our customers to maximize the power of the Internet, along with quality VoIP service at a significant discount," stated Hector Terrazas, vice president of operations at Fonet. "The Cisco ATA 186 makes this possible with our existing network infrastructure".

Pricing and Availability

The Cisco ATA 186 is list priced at $210 and is currently shipping.