WARSAW, Poland, February 14, 2002 - Cisco Systems, the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, and Energis Poland, a leading alternative provider, today announced they are beginning the construction of a countrywide IP VPN backbone network, based on Cisco's MPLS technology. The new network will enable Energis Poland to offer state-of-the art network services to enterprises, as well as wholesale IP transit for other service providers, such as ISPs and ASPs.
The IP network, based Cisco IOS® Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), will offer not only the high-speed data transmission with Quality of Service (QoS), but also the industry's only demonstrated reliable priority packet delivery for real-time voice and video over IP. These services help enable enhanced services for critical applications such as corporate management systems and will make it possible to introduce new applications such as distance learning, IP telephony, video on demand and others.
Initially, Energis Poland will focus on deploying the MPLS based IP VPN, but an IP VPN service platform is planned for the future, which will help enable deployment of value-add services, such as security, hosting, and IP telephony. Longer term Energis is looking to develop an international network to enable services based on pan European MPLS IP VPN platform.
"Building our own IP network based on Cisco's world leading technology in Poland, which will be directly integrated with Energis' pan European IP network, will begin a whole new era in the development of advanced IP services in Poland. It will also represent a key milestone in the growth of Poland's business market. I am happy that Energis Poland will be at heart of these changes, being the leading technology provider of integrated telecoms and internet solutions for business customers in Poland." - said George Makowski, CEO of Energis Poland.
"Cisco is very keen to see the development of leading new services in the Polish market, as we anticipated the migration of ATM and Frame Relay services to IP VPNs more than a year ago. The higher profitability and richer capabilities of IP VPNs make them interesting to the enterprise customers. Energis's experience internationally, together with Cisco's technology leadership and knowledge of the Polish business market, make a solid foundation for the success of this project" said Todd Abbott, Group Vice President, Cisco Systems EMEA.
The new network will be based on the Cisco 12016 and 12008 Internet Routers, offering a unique, modular distributed system architecture, as well as the only optimized investment protection and the only proven high backbone and edge performance and priority packet delivery in the industry. Customer links will be aggregated with the high performance Cisco 7500 Series Routers, which help enable the application of advanced functions at full speed and allow use of a broad range of interfaces. This type of equipment provides scalability, modularity and maximizes investment protection as demand increases and the network grows. Implementing one of the most up-to-date integrated network and service management systems in Poland will make it possible to use the network's functions and capabilities to the greatest possible extent and significantly reduce its maintenance costs.
Cisco networking equipment includes the Cisco IOS® Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), the Cisco 12016 Internet Router and Cisco 12008 Gigabit Switch Routers as well as the Cisco 7500 Series Routers.
