SAN JOSE, Calif., February 12, 2002 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, announced today that Slovak Railways, of the Slovak Republic, has selected Cisco products and technology solutions to help it restructure its internal network, keeping the railway competitive and compatible with the other European Rail operations while it transforms itself into a telecommunications services provider. The company will utilize Cisco 12000 Series and 7206 Routers with Cisco's resilient packet ring technology, Dynamic Packet Transport (DPT), as the core of its high-end IP infrastructure and backbone, complemented by 7609 Series Routers in its Bratislava Metro Area Network (MAN).
With headquarters in Bratislava, covering eight regional districts, Slovak Railways is in the process of restructuring from a traditional state-owned company into a private enterprise. To compete in the transportation market Slovak Railways needs to be able to offer a premium service and to maintain its connections with the main European infrastructure. The railway selected solutions from Cisco Systems to help transform Slovak Railways into a state of the art transportation company. The solutions, supported by Ditec a.s., a Cisco Premier Certified Partner and system integrator, are designed to support Slovak Railways' current business needs and provide advanced telecommunication applications in the future.
"Cisco's end-to-end solution will place Slovak Railways at the heart of Eastern Europe's transportation and information technology infrastructure," said Mr. Ladislav Ondrus, manager of new Telco department within Slovak Railways. "Cisco's excellent support and products have helped us to consolidate our corporate network while we build our IP backbone and infrastructure, giving Slovak Railways the means to enter the telecommunications services market."
Slovak Railways chose several Cisco products to support its network restructuring and expansion, including, Catalyst 3500 Series XL, 1900 Series EN, 4000 and 6000 Family Switches for its network access and internetworking needs; Cisco 2600 Series Routers for its regional office integration and access, 7200 and 12000 Series Routers utilizing Cisco's resilient packet ring technology, DPT, for its Metro, high-speed provider edge and IP backbone requirements, as well as Cisco Element Management Framework and VPN Solutions Center for its network management needs.
"By transforming and restructuring itself into a modern operation with state-of-the-art networking equipment, Slovak Railways is helping to position itself as a model for the development of leading edge railway operations in Europe," said Miloslav Rut, country manager, Czech and Slovak Republics at Cisco. "Developing its network to include a high-end IP backbone will help Slovak Railways to take advantage of its geographical layout by overlaying it with the infrastructure needed to provide telecommunications services. Our work with Slovak Railways a great example for developing an existing operation and expanding it into a new market."
