SHANGHAI, P.R.C. -- 12 December 2001 -- Cisco Systems, today, announced its Cisco Mobile Office initiative in Shanghai, sharing its vision of providing enterprises with ubiquitous and easy access to their corporate network as well as the Internet - whether they are on the road, at home or at work.

Cisco Mobile Office is a global initiative that will empower mobile professionals with high-speed, secure, standards-based wired and wireless Internet and Intranet access while they are away from the office - delivered by key industry service providers, solution integrators and venue partners.

Promising to dramatically increase productivity while reducing costs for mobile professionals, the Cisco Mobile Office initiative has three components: on the road, at home and at work. Cisco will provide the necessary end-to-end solutions for service providers, systems integrators and venue operators to build a broadband network.

Shanghai Telecom is the first domestic service provider to offer business-level, high-speed wireless Internet access network based on the Cisco Aironet wireless LAN solution.

Mr. Jia-Bin Duh, Vice President of Cisco Systems and President of Cisco China, said: "Living through the Big Boom of the Internet genetration, we have witnessed the soaring growth of Internet subscribers in China and worldwide. More and more people, confined by wired connections, aspire to get convenient, high-speed wireless connections beyond their office or home."

"As the worldwide leading networking solutions provider, Cisco is committed to the development of wireless network solutions, addressing the needs of telecom companies, governments, medical institutions, academics, retail businesses and other industries for advanced wireless LAN network access. The Internet has been changing the way people work, live, learn and play. The Cisco Mobile Office initiative is an example of how technology is revolutionizing businesses," he added.

According to an IDC report, there are about 4.5 million mobile professionals worldwide who make business and information exchanges via the Internet. An independent study by NOP World - Technology, documents increased employee productivity, cost savings and other benefits achieved by end users and IT network administrators from more than 300 U.S.-based organizations with 100 or more employees using wireless LANs.

Among the most significant results revealed by end-users was that using wireless LANs allowed them to stay connected one and three-quarter hours more each day, amounting to time savings of 70 minutes for the average user, increasing their productivity by as much as 22 percent.

"In today's dynamic workplace, non-stop network access has become essential. As businesses move forward at Internet speed, you cannot afford to be out of touch with clients, co-workers, and partners. Whether flying across the country or meeting in a conference room down the hall, you need secure high-speed access anytime, anywhere," said Mr. Duh.

"Today, access outside the office is limited to slow, unsecured, dial-up access. With the Cisco Mobile Office initiative, we will enable the mobile workforce with high-speed, secure access to their corporate resources anytime, anywhere."

The Cisco Mobile Office also ties in perfectly with the trend towards mobility that saw notebook and PDA sales soaring. An ecosystem of service providers, application service providers, and systems integrators offer end-to-end connectivity to enterprise customers outside the traditional office. The infrastructure is built on a range of technologies developed by Cisco, including 802.11b wireless networking and Long Reach Ethernet (LRE). End-to-end security is provided via the Cisco Virtual Private Network (VPN) technology, which supports secure remote-access computing.

Technology collaborations with roaming partners such as iPass are another critical element of Cisco Mobile Office, offering subscriber gateway and global roaming technologies. Cisco and iPass have teamed to create the industry's first Global Broadband Roaming Service, enabling a virtual global footprint for simplified, high-speed and secure remote access to corporate networks.

More public locations such as hotels, cafes and airports in China are expected to obtain wireless Internet capacities with the aggressive rollout of the Cisco Mobile Office initiative across the nation.

For more information on Cisco Mobile Office, visit www.cisco.com/asiapac/mobileoffice.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at www.cisco.com.

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