SAN JOSE, Calif., May 6, 2002 - Cisco Systems, the leader in networking for the Internet, today announced extensions to its family of intrusion detection solutions (IDS) that reset the performance bar for enterprise-class and gigabit security appliances. These new products, combined with new embedded management and monitoring capabilities, provide customers with dynamic protection of their e-business infrastructures.

This announcement extends Cisco's market-leading IDS solution family spanning the network including appliances, host-based solutions and integration within switches, routers, and firewalls. These new products also demonstrate Cisco's technical and market innovation in the security and VPN market, advance Cisco's traditional intrusion detection technology to now deliver more advanced intrusion protection, and further enhance SAFE. SAFE, the security blueprint for Cisco AVVID -- the Architecture for Voice, Video and Integrated Data -- enables businesses to maximize security while successfully taking advantage of e-Business to compete in the Internet economy. More information is available at http://www.cisco.com/go/safe.

"Today's business-critical networks require robust infrastructure protection which addresses both evolving business demands and ever increasingly sophisticated internal and external threats," said Charles Kolodgy, Research Manager of IDC. "Today's announcement demonstrates Cisco's commitment to delivering industry-leading intrusion protection solutions that increase e-business availability and security, and minimize business disruption enabling customers to maintain overall business resilience."

Specific elements of today's announcement include:

• The Cisco IDS 4250: A performance-optimized, gigabit intrusion protection appliance for high bandwidth environments.
• The Cisco IDS 4235: A cost-effective intrusion protection appliance delivering Cisco's advanced technology at new price/performance levels for small and mid-size enterprises.
• Cisco IDS software version 3.1 - New embedded, web-based management enabling secure remote management for Cisco's IDS appliance family. Version 3.1 also includes a new event viewing application providing analysis and data mining for threat management and attack mitigation across all Cisco network-based IDS solutions.

High Performance Gigabit Intrusion Protection

The Cisco IDS 4250 intrusion protection appliance sets a new mark in high-speed intrusion protection performance within an upgradeable framework. Specifically designed for high-bandwidth gigabit requirements of enterprises and service providers, the Cisco IDS 4250 helps protect networks from both known and unknown attacks by scanning and detecting unauthorized network activity utilizing a combination of advanced anomaly and signature-based intrusion protection capabilities; all within a low-profile one rack-unit high chassis. Through its gigabit copper and fiber interface support, the Cisco IDS 4250 provides protection to areas of the network previously unavailable due to high-bandwidth requirements. And because it is performance upgradeable, the Cisco IDS 4250 scales to future high-performance requirements providing overall investment protection and lower total cost of ownership.

Extending Performance and Management Capabilities of Cisco's Intrusion Protection Family

The Cisco IDS 4235 appliance, also announced today, establishes a new price/performance benchmark, offering 200 Megabits of intrusion protection for small to midsize enterprise customers in a cost-effective solution. Like the Cisco IDS 4250, the Cisco IDS 4235 uses advanced threat detection capabilities including stateful pattern recognition, protocol parsing, and anomaly detection, providing high levels of attack identification and accuracy.

The Cisco IDS software version 3.1, available for all Cisco IDS appliances, offers customers integrated and easy-to-use device management and event monitoring capabilities for secure, web-based remote management. The Cisco IDS Device Manager and IDS Event Viewer, both delivered through Cisco IDS software version 3.1, are part of Cisco's multi-tiered management strategy addressing the administrative needs of e-business security. The IDS Device Manager enables easy, remote IDS sensor configuration with a high degree of customization, minimizing the occurrence of false positives. The event monitoring capabilities delivered via the IDS Event Viewer let customers collect, correlate, and analyze event data for rapid detection and response to unauthorized network activity.

"The prevalence of network security threats requires vigilant monitoring of our e-business infrastructure," said Joel Hopkins, Senior Network Engineer at Centex Mortgage. "We were impressed with the ease of set-up and sophisticated management capabilities available in the new Cisco IDS 3.1 software. We believe it enables us to track and dynamically defend against malicious network activity."

Pricing and Availability

The Cisco IDS 4250 is available today starting at $25,000 USD. The Cisco IDS 4235 is available today at $12,500 USD. The IDS Device Manager and Event Viewer are available today at no charge as part of Cisco IDS Software version 3.1 for all Cisco IDS appliance platforms.