CALGARY, Alberta, Canada, March 12, 2002 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, announced today that BIG PIPE Inc., the fiber backbone division of Shaw Communications Inc. (TSE: SJR.B and NYSE:SJR), has built an industry unique customer care and billing system with the help of Cisco 7600 Internet Routers deployed across its national IP (Internet Protocol) backbone.

Embedded in the Cisco 7600 is Cisco's Netflow technology, a feature of Cisco IOS. software that monitors and reports on network behaviour such as a customer's usage volume or traffic priorities. The ability to capture and analyze this detailed data helps BIG PIPE to offer new service options around usage-based billing, while also giving it access to data useful for performing trend analysis to support proactive marketing and customer service programs. To maximize system and network efficiencies, BIG PIPE is also taking advantage of NetFlow Aggregation, a related feature that helps to summarize data before it is exported to a NetFlow data collector. By including a cache containing aggregation information right on the router, BIG PIPE is able to see summaries of the data necessary for its own traffic management and to support the services it offers.

"In today's competitive economy, service providers need to differentiate themselves by addressing the technical and business requirements of networked organizations," said Greg MacLean, vice president and general manager at BIG PIPE. "The Cisco 7600 helps us to create unique, value-add service offerings like our flexible and robust billing system capabilities while meeting our customers' demand for advanced, high performance networks."

MacLean added, "The Cisco 7600 and the data provided by NetFlow also helps us to plan ahead for network capacity increases, equipment upgrades, and other topology changes, all key factors in our decision to choose Cisco products."

Cisco 7600 Routers are deployed throughout BIG PIPE's network in cities across Canada, including Victoria, Vancouver, Kelowna, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg, and Toronto. The Cisco 7600 is one of the most scalable platforms in the industry, delivering high performance and high-density WAN networking, combined with high-touch IP services at the network edge.

"To deliver network service levels and create compelling new offerings such as advanced usage-based billing effectively, service providers need to be able to gather, view, and analyze statistical data about their network traffic patterns easily," said Pierre-Paul Allard, managing director at Cisco Systems Canada. "With the wealth of network data residing in the Cisco 7600, BIG PIPE can better plan and manage its network infrastructure, while addressing the business needs of its customer base."