LONDON, United Kingdom, December 19th, 2001 - Cisco Systems, (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, announced today that Tiscali, the leading pan-European Internet Communication Company, will implement Cisco Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) technology as a key part of the foundation for its forthcoming UK multi-service IP network.

Tiscali selected the Cisco 12000 Series, the industry's premier platform for building high-capacity and high-value networks. Tiscali chose the Cisco 12406, a <-rack system that provides 10Gigabit (Gbps) switching capacity while consuming less power and less rack space. The 12406 was the logical choice for Tiscali as it was designed primarily for service point of presence (POP) and Internet Data Center (IDC) applications in which high scalability and reduced site operational costs are required.

Stephane Huet, Tiscali's chief operating officer, said: "It was a strategic decision to team with Cisco because of their experience with MPLS networks and their ability to ensure the continued success of the Tiscali network."

"This investment will deliver a market-leading, robust and proven 10Gbps network to handle growing customer demand for higher bandwidth and high-value IP services and ensure Tiscali's position as one of the most advanced Internet network companies in Europe."

Todd Abbott, Cisco Group Vice President, Service Provider, EMEA: " This is an exciting relationship because Tiscali will be the first provider to deploy both backbone and rich IP edge services such as transparent LAN and virtual private networks at high speeds without compromising network performance or capacity."

Cisco IOS. MPLS is supported across the range of Cisco products, including the 12400 Series Internet Routers. By fusing the intelligence of routing with the performance of switching MPLS provides significant benefits to networks with a pure Internet Protocol (IP) architecture as well as those with IP and asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) broadband transmissions or a mix of other technologies concerned with moving data across the physical links in a network.

MPLS technology is also important for scalable and secure Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) and end-to-end Quality of Service (QoS), helping to enable efficient utilization of existing networks to meet future growth and deliver highly scalable, differentiated end-to-end IP services with simple configuration, management, and provisioning for both Internet providers and subscribers.

The network infrastructure, to be provided by Cisco via its Gold Certified Channel Partner, Getronics, is centered around the deployment of Cisco 12000 Internet Routers, part of Cisco's family of multimillion packets-per-second (pps) next -generation Internet routing platforms for creating a full service network.

"Our job is to make sure this project is delivered on time, to specification and within budget. We then have the responsibility to support the network and jointly develop opportunities with Tiscali to deliver new IP services for their clients" said Lloyd Salvage, Director of IP Business Solutions Getronics UK.

The Cisco 12000 Series is the premier Internet routing platform for service provider backbone and high-speed edge applications, helping to enable service providers to meet the challenge of building IP networks to satisfy customer demands while increasing profitability. Within the Cisco 12000 Series, the Cisco 12400 family offers the only portfolio of 10Gbps/OC-192 systems delivering the capacity, performance, service enablers, and operational efficiencies to build the most competitive IP networks. With its unique, modular distributed system architecture, the Cisco 12000 Series leads the industry with the only proven investment protection, the highest backbone and edge performance, and the only guaranteed priority packet delivery.

Other elements of the Tiscali network will include:

• Catalyst. 6000 high-performance multilayer switches - designed for enterprise and service provider networks to address requirements for gigabit scalability, high-availability, and multilayer switching in backbone/distribution and server-aggregation environments.
• Cisco 7200 Series routers - providing exceptional performance, value, density, and availability with industry-leading service and manageability features.
• Cisco CSS 11000 Series Content Services Switches - compact, high-performance devices for small Web sites and PoPs that enable Web and application service providers, content providers and enterprises engaged in e-commerce to build global networks optimized for e-commerce transactions and content delivery.

MPLS will not only provide a matching level of service protection and restoration to SDH, but will also optimize the use of resources across the network - all at a lower price point.

See www.tiscali.co.uk for more information on the company and new products.

Contact Details:

Cornelia Parchment-Horn
PR & Communications Manager
Tiscali UK
Tel: 020 7422 7477
Email: cornelia.parchment-horn@uk.tiscali.com

Jim Hawker
MacLaurin
Tel: 020 7471 6841
Email: jim.hawker@maclaurin.com