SAN JOSE, Calif., August 6, 2001 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced that it has signed an agreement with Qwest Communications International Inc. to help Qwest expand its long-haul, core and metro area networks using Cisco's IP+Optical solutions: the ONS 15454 Metro Optical Transport Platform and the Cisco 12416 Internet Routers and 10008 Internet Routers. Qwest is deploying the Cisco solutions to rapidly expand its network within important US cities to accommodate increasing customer demand for data services.
Qwest chose the Cisco 12416 Internet Router, the industry-leading platform for 10 Gbps networking, for select network expansions. For leased line applications Qwest will deploy the Cisco 10008 Internet Router, the industry's highest density IP edge services aggregator. To cost-effectively extend voice and data services into its 25 local networks throughout the country, Qwest chose the market leading ONS 15454 Metro Optical Transport Platform.
This announcement represents another step forward in the strategic relationship between Qwest and Cisco, which began formally in 1998 with Qwest launching the industry's first OC-48 nationwide IP network using Cisco 12012 Internet Routers. Today, Qwest is the only provider to offer the full spectrum of Web hosting and managed services, application service provider and professional services combined with a global OC-192 broadband communications network and data-center infrastructure. Utilizing Cisco's rich IP+Optical portfolio, Qwest further expands these capabilities and delivers greater value to its customers.
"Cisco's ability to deliver high performing and reliable products in both the long-haul and metro networks will play a major part in Qwest's build-out plans," said James Becker, executive vice president of Qwest worldwide networks. "Qwest is aggressively pursuing metro network build-out and service deployment. Technology partners such as Cisco are important to achieving our goals."
The core IP backbone and edge component of Cisco's IP+Optical solution combines the industry-leading 12416 Internet Routers and 10008 Internet Routers to deliver the highest scalability, flexibility, and highest performance for service delivery across all networks and locations. In its local networks, Qwest is deploying the market leading ONS 15454, a solution already widely used in Qwest's nationwide optical transport infrastructure with over 1,000 platforms already in place.
"Cisco's goal has always been to accelerate the evolution of the Internet by delivering the high-bandwidth, high-value services that service providers require to attract and retain customers and drive towards new levels of profitability," said Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president and general manager, for Cisco's service provider line of business. "Qwest is an example of a service provider who fundamentally understands the nature of investing in service provider infrastructure to address changing market dynamics while delivering the highest level of service across the board for its customers."
The flagship Cisco 12000 series Internet routers are based on a unique distributed architecture that delivers the IP+Optical networking foundation and service building blocks to accelerate the evolution of the Internet. The family of Cisco 12400 Internet Routers provides the highest levels of scalability, performance, and investment protection available today. They are also the only systems capable of guaranteeing high priority packet delivery, which is critical to meet customers' increasing need for delivery of premium IP services. This innovative combination of features and capabilities make the Cisco 12400 family the premier platform for building true 10Gbps OC-192/STM-64 IP+Optical infrastructures.
The Cisco 10000 series Internet Routers are the industry's highest density IP edge service aggregators for leased line applications. The Cisco 10000 series combines award-winning Cisco PXF adaptive network processing architecture that delivers scalable IP services without compromise with high availability for carrier-class reliability, making the Cisco 10000 series routers the industry's foremost IP edge service routers for T1/E1 aggregation. The industry leading features of the Cisco 10000 family enable service providers to increase revenue by allowing them to deploy a higher level of premium IP services such as MPLS VPNs at the network edge, while at the same time increasing operational efficiency, gaining them much needed space in their POPs and lowering the power consumption and complexity of their network.
With over 600 customers and 30,000 systems deployed, the ONS 15454 is a key part of Cisco's IP+Optical portfolio. The system delivers radical economic benefits to today's service providers through flexible, supercharged SONET/SDH transport including OC-192 capabilities, integrated optical networking with ITU Grid Wavelengths and Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing (DWDM), and unprecedented multiservice interfaces including new high-density OC-12 and line rate Gigabit Ethernet service interface cards. Additionally, the ONS 15454 recently completed Telcordia Technologies'TM OSMINE TM (Operations Systems Modification of Intelligent Network Elements) process for operations support system interoperability. OSMINE certification allows the ONS 15454 to interoperate seamlessly with Qwest's established operations systems to reduce cost and improve operational efficiency in the metro.
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, empowering them to deploy a new generation of highly competitive New World services.
