OAK BROOK, IL - February 25, 2003 - Looking Glass Networks® Inc., a facilities-based provider of metropolitan telecommunication transport services, announced today plans to deploy the Cisco® ONS 15600 Multiservice Switching Platform (MSSP) in five metro area networks (MANs) including Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, New York and Washington, D.C. The Cisco ONS 15600 solution brings scalable bandwidth management to Looking Glass' metro optical core networks while simplifying operations and increasing efficiency for high bandwidth services. Deployment is expected to begin with Los Angeles in the first quarter of 2003.

"By increasing the efficiency and scalability of our networks, simplifying management, and accelerating speed to market, we are able to provide high-quality, cost effective services to our customers," said Steve Daigle, Director of Engineering, Looking Glass Networks. "Our selection of the Cisco ONS 15600 solution plays a significant role in our ability to offer the most rapidly provisioned lit services available today-on-net in four days from order to delivery-which is essential to supporting our customer-driven strategy."

The Cisco ONS 15600 allows Looking Glass to consolidate equipment in its switching centers to achieve lower costs. Additionally, Looking Glass utilizes the solution's single network management system, and automated cross-connect capability with point-and-click provisioning, to speed circuit turn up. Looking Glass is building upon an installed base of Cisco ONS 15454 multiservice provisioning platforms in its metro networks. Used together, the Cisco ONS 15600 and Cisco ONS 15454 enable a service dense and highly efficient solution that maximizes bandwidth.

"In the diverse technology landscape of the metro area network, it's critical to evaluate the transport network infrastructure, not only for today or tomorrow, but also for the next three to five years and beyond. The Cisco ONS 15600 enables customers like Looking Glass Networks to build networks that maximize bandwidth management in the Service PoP and cost-effectively scale for an evolving service portfolio," said Rob Koslowsky, director of marketing, Optical Networking Group, Cisco Systems. "We share Looking Glass' customer-focused commitment, and we are very pleased they have chosen the Cisco solution to enhance the value they bring to their customers."

Part of the Cisco Complete Optical Multiservice Edge and Transport (COMET) product portfolio, the Cisco ONS 15600 delivers multiple network elements in a single platform. Combining Synchronous Optical Network (SONET)/Synchronous Digital Hierarchy (SDH) multiplexers and digital cross-connect network elements, the ONS 15600 simplifies the metropolitan network by reducing the number of network elements, streamlining management and adding multiservice capacity in the Service Point-of-Presence. For more information on the Cisco ONS 15600 go to http://www.cisco.com/en/US/products/hw/optical/ps4533/index.html