CeBIT, HANNOVER, Germany, March 12, 2003 - Cisco Systems today announced that Mainova, a German utility company based in Frankfurt, is extending its data recovery and business continuance strategy using Fiber Channel and Gigabit Ethernet over a Dense Wave Division Multiplexing (DWDM) optical network, based on the Cisco ONS 15540 Extended Services Platform.

Mainova, which supplies energy to customers in the Rhein-Main region around Frankfurt, Germany, is extending its storage area network by taking advantage of its own utility network and fiber infrastructure to build a DWDM backbone interconnecting each of its sites. By deploying redundant Cisco ONS 15540 DWDM platforms at each site, Mainova is now able to reliably multiplex several fiber-channel storage connections, together with separate local-area network (LAN) traffic, over a single fiber, without needing to light individual fibers for each new data connection.

"The Cisco ONS 15540 helps enable us to maximize the use of our fiber infrastructure in linking the different campus sites, and has improved the capacity, performance and reliability of our network, said Mr. Hollstein, Head of Network Infrastructure at Mainova. "We were also impressed with the application awareness and security of the overall Cisco solution, and are now in a position to develop our core network infrastructure in tandem with the growth of our business."

The DWDM network helps ensure that Mainova's data can be reliably backed up using Fiber

Channel-over-DWDM connections to the remote data centers. Because Mainova's business operates 24 hours per day, the company needs a reliable data recovery strategy, which has been supported by constructing an additional, redundant data center as part of this project. In addition to facilitating a resilient storage infrastructure, the Cisco ONS 15540 technology has helped enable Mainova to improve LAN connectivity between these disparate sites without incurring additional costs.

"A 24-hour business continuance strategy combined with service flexibility are key requirements for both service providers and enterprises alike," commented Dave Smith, director of product marketing for Cisco Systems, EMEA. "Mainova has chosen the Cisco optical architecture to help maximise ongoing service availability and provide a scalable solution for business continuance applications, whilst still transparently supporting their existing network, services and customers across the same infrastructure."

Mainova worked closely with Cisco Gold Certified Partner, CC Compunet AG in providing and integrating Cisco equipment. Mainova selected the Cisco ONS 15540 Extended Services Platform (ESP) for this project, and is already using a range of Cisco routing technology from the 800 Series up to the 7200 Series router, together with the Catalyst® 6500, Catalyst 4500, Catalyst 3550 and Catalyst 2950 series switches, and Cisco PIX® Firewalls. The overall network environment is managed using CiscoWorks.

The Cisco ONS 15540 is a part of the Cisco Complete Optical Multiservice Edge and Transport (COMET) portfolio. For more information on the Cisco COMET Portfolio, visit: http://www.cisco.com/go/comet