ATLANTA - June 5, 2001 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced new products and capabilities across its IP+Optical portfolio to help service providers break through the services bandwidth barrier by accelerating the delivery of high bandwidth, high-value service capabilities while minimizing network operational costs. The new products comprise a series of solutions for high-speed metro and point of presence (POP) networks. In addition to the new IP+Optical products, Cisco is demonstrating its commitment to deliver transport optimization and IP intelligence across both IP and optical domains through a demonstration of its sophisticated and standards-based Unified Control Plane (UCP) technology. UCP provides interoperability across IP and optical platforms and supports the Optical Internetworking Forum (OIF) UNI (User Network Interface) specification. Of the major routing vendors, Cisco is the only company demonstrating multi-vendor UNI interoperability. In addition, Cisco is the only vendor demonstrating interoperability on both a router and an optical transport platform.

Cisco's expanded IP+Optical portfolio provides new capabilities and platforms to enable service providers to reach new levels of network performance and profits:

• Cisco is introducing a landmark optical product with 10 Gbps (OC-192) capabilities for its industry leading ONS 15454 Metro Optical Transport platform. The addition of OC-192 interfaces makes the ONS 15454 the first multiservice metro optical transport platform to offer 10 Gbps transport and to scale all the way from DS1 to OC-192, while also supporting a wide range of Ethernet interfaces. Further extending Cisco's metro optical leadership and accelerating service velocity for its customers, the ONS 15454 supercharges metro optical networks to meet service providers' ever increasing bandwidth demands while slashing the cost of high-bandwidth transport. Read more

• Enhancing its line of next generation Internet routers, Cisco is debuting the Cisco 7400 Internet Router, the industry's highest performance, compact single rack unit router available. Designed for specific market application deployments in service provider and enterprise networks, the Cisco 7400 delivers a premium suite of hardware-accelerated network services. Read more

• Continuing to broaden the reach of the leading Cisco 7600 Internet Router, Cisco is introducing high-speed WAN aggregation services, delivering optical WAN and MAN networking with a focus on line-rate delivery of high-touch IP services at the edge of service provider networks. Delivering the industry's highest service-enabled DS3 and OC-3 density on a single platform and powered by Cisco's PXF adaptive networking processors, the new features are delivered through two high-speed channelized optical service modules (OSMs) available in OC-12 and OC-48 options. Read more

• The new Cisco 10005 delivers a full suite of advanced, line-rate IP services enabling service providers to create new revenue streams. Powered by Cisco's PXF Technology, the Cisco 10005 enables line-rate IP services to be deployed for thousands of customer connections. The IPsec VPN Service Module delivers unmatched IPsec performance with up to 25,000 tunnels and 250 Mbps of 3DES throughput. The Cisco 10000 Series delivers the highest T1/E1 density and the most comprehensive set of IP features delivered at line rate.

• Rounding out the additions to the next generation Internet routing portfolio, the Cisco 12406 Internet Router is the newest member of the industry-leading Cisco 12000 Series Internet Routers. The Cisco 12406 is the first 1/4-rack system in the industry to support 10 Gbps interfaces and offers five times the performance of the closest competitor. The Cisco 12406 delivers the power of carrier-class OC-192/STM-64 networking speeds in the smallest form factor available on the market today. The Cisco 12406 provides 6-slots for all Cisco 12000 series line cards, and 120 Gbps throughput. This is ideal for locations where a high capacity router is needed but only a limited amount of space and power are available.

• Cisco is expanding its element management framework (CEMF) with a collection of new, enhanced, and integrated element managers: the Cisco 7200/7400 Manager, the Cisco 7600 Manager, and the Cisco 12000 Manager. These new element managers enable service providers to plan, provision, configure, and monitor network services across Cisco Internet routing platforms, providing full fault, configuration, accounting, performance, and security (FCAPS) element management support from a single integrated console application. Through an intuitive user interface, CEMF eases and accelerates deployment, enables efficient operation of large network environments, and streamlines the provisioning process.

The industry has experienced a sharp increase in raw transport bandwidth demand. Today, that bandwidth is largely available in the core but a "services bandwidth barrier" exists in the Metro and Services POP, preventing service providers from fulfilling demand for high-bandwidth services and deploying advanced services that require this bandwidth. Cisco's IP+Optical strategy enables service providers to break through these barriers to deliver highly scalable networking capabilities, such as 10 Gbps interfaces, anywhere in the service provider network.

"Service providers face the daunting challenge of reducing their operational and capital costs while building a foundation for meeting increasing demand for high bandwidth and other value-added services," said Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president, Cisco's service provider line of business. "With 10 Gbps networking across our next generation Internet Router and optical platforms, Cisco has the most powerful and compelling solution for service providers. The new members of our next generation Internet routing family are the industry's most highly scalable, operationally efficient routers, delivering the greatest level of functionality for service provider profitability."

Cisco demonstrates interoperability across IP+Optical networks with Universal Control Plane

As part of the first public demonstration of successful multi-vendor interoperability between IP and optical networks using optical control plane technology, Cisco is participating in the Optical Internetworking Forum's (OIF) User Network Interface (UNI) demonstration at Supercomm. Cisco's contributions to the OIF's multi-vendor, multi-technology demonstration include the ONS 15454 Metro Optical Transport platform, Cisco 12000 series Internet Router, and the Cisco Unified Control Plane (UCP).

As the pioneers of Multi-protocol Label Switching and the leaders in next generation IP and optical systems, Cisco is building on its leadership and tremendous strength in protocol design and development. Cisco's Unified Control Plane, which enables IP intelligence to be the unifying force in the next generation of high-performance service delivery, is a key component of Cisco's IP+Optical strategy. UCP simplifies network provisioning by using IP and MPLS-based protocols to establish network connectivity and automate network inventory management. These capabilities radically reduce operational costs and increase service velocity, further extending Cisco's leadership in both the IP and optical markets. UCP delivers significant benefits today via the UNI interface as well as a compelling path to the future with Generalized MPLS (GMPLS).

Cutting service provider cost through effective management

In addition to new hardware platforms, Cisco is enhancing the management of its next generation Internet routers. The Cisco 12000 Manager provides control and operation of the Cisco 12000 Internet Router series. By utilizing Cisco 12000 Manager to simplify the configuration process, less time is spent deploying services, thereby accelerating service velocity while reducing operation costs. The new features of Cisco 12000 Manager include support for bandwidth utilization reporting for capacity management, improved event handling with event correlation, and the availability of more information via application programming interfaces such as Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA).

"360networks is using Cisco 12000 Manager to enable efficient operation of large Cisco 12000 series deployments in both North America and Europe and intends to leverage the enhanced fault management applications in the latest release in conjunction with Cisco's 12000 series 10 Gbps platforms," Stephen Baker, chief technology officer for 360networks.

To help service providers deliver new, profitable IP-based services while containing operating costs and improving service levels, Cisco also is introducing Element Manager Software for the Cisco 7200 Internet Routers, Cisco 7400 Internet Routers, and Cisco 7600 Internet Routers. Like the Cisco 12000 Manager, each of these element managers utilize the Cisco Element Manager Framework (CEMF) to manage and monitor one or more of each specific device. Each Element Manager also provides fault and element management without requiring detailed knowledge of Cisco IOS. or Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP).

About Cisco IP+Optical Solutions

Cisco is the first company to deliver scalable IP+Optical networking solutions for today's Internet-driven marketplace. Cisco's IP+Optical strategy builds on Cisco's leadership in IP routing, Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), optical networking technology and content/services intelligence. Cisco is uniquely positioned to enable service providers to reduce operational costs and increase service velocity, bringing immediate benefits today while empowering them to deploy a new generation of highly competitive New World services.