SAN JOSE, Calif., May 17, 2001 Underscoring its drive to shape the future of the Internet through practical innovation, Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced a flurry of recent recognition for its industry leading technologies and solutions.

In the latest example of how industry influencers are recognizing Cisco's effort to solve real-world customer problems, Cisco products captured "Best of Show," "People's Choice" and "Hardware Product of the Year" honors at the recently completed Networld + Interop trade show in Las Vegas. Cisco products and solutions also landed six highly regarded Well-Connected Awards in competition sponsored by Network Computing magazine, a CMP Media LLC publication.

"By identifying tornado markets early-on, Cisco has been able to innovate new applications, business models and infrastructures that empower companies to achieve competitive advantage in their respective markets," said Eugene Lee, vice president of marketing in the Enterprise Line of Business at Cisco. "It is exciting to see industry influencers lauding Cisco for its strategy of addressing real-world customer requirements with high quality, practical solutions."

The following Cisco products and solutions captured major awards at N+I:

• Cisco SN 5420 Storage Router: Best of Show, enterprise network infrastructure category, awarded by Network Computing, Internet Week and Networld + Interop; People's Choice Award, in which more than 1,000 attendees cast votes on-site for the product they felt represented the best of show. For information about the Cisco SN 5420 Storage Router, please visit http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/rt/5420/.
• Cisco AVVID IP Telephony System: Hardware Product of the Year and Well-Connected Award in the Voice Over IP (VOIP) PBX category, both from Network Computing. For information about Cisco AVVID voice and video solutions, visit http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/largeent/avvid/
• Cisco VPN 3060 Concentrator, Cisco 7140 VPN Router, Cisco 1750 Router: Well- Connected Award, Enterprise VPN Solution category. For information about Cisco's VPN portfolio, visit http://www.cisco.com/go/vpn.
• Cisco Aironet 340 WLAN Series: Well-Connected Award, Wireless LAN Platform category. For information about the Aironet 340 WLAN series, visit http://www.networkcomputing.com/1210/1210f113.html#wireplat.
• Cisco CSS-11154 Content Services Switch: Well-Connected Award, Content Switch category. For information about the CSS-11154 Content Services Switch, visit http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/si/11000/.
• Cisco 7206 VXR Multifunction Router with Cisco Provisioned QoS Policy Manager: Well-Connected Award, Internet Traffic Management Device category. For information, visit http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/rt/7200/index.shtml.
• Cisco Catalyst. 6500 series: Well-Connected Award , Modular Configuration Switch category (Catalyst 6509 Multilayer Switch); Network Magazine, Product of the Year, enterprise backbone device category. For information about the Catalyst 6500 series, visit http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/cc/pd/si/casi/ca6000/.

"The Well-Connected Awards are given to products, technologies and services that have withstood testing in our Real-World Labs, and proven to be essential to meeting business initiatives," said Fritz Nelson, vice president/publisher of CMP's Network Computing. "When a product receives a Well-Connected award, it is an important endorsement it is the top in its category and carries through with its promise of excellence."

Cisco plays a key role in many tornado markets that require high levels of innovation. These include core IP routing, optical networking, content delivery networks, Voice-over-IP (VoIP), wireless, storage, security and virtual private networks. For more information on competing effectively in tornado markets, please visit www.cisco.com/go/innovation.