News Release

ALLTEL Upgrades Kentucky Network with Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform

New MSTP Solution to Provide up to 10-Gbps Transport of Data and Voice Traffic
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Jun 02, 2003

SuperComm Booth Number 21355

ATLANTA; LITTLE ROCK, Ark.; and SAN JOSE, Calif., June 2, 2003 - Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), today announced that ALLTEL (NYSE: AT) selected the Cisco® ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform (MSTP) with integrated dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM) capabilities for their central Kentucky network to allow for greater service deployment. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP brings greater photonics capabilities and intelligence directly into the service platform to cost-effectively help ALLTEL deploy new services while also recognizing additional growth opportunities inherent within their existing infrastructure.

A 270-mile ring in ALLTEL's Kentucky network required a cost-effective delivery of reliable Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, and DS-1 to OC-192 services. Using the Cisco ONS 15454 as an integrated MSTP and multiservice provisioning platform (MSPP) system will allow Alltel to converge all the service requirements of this part of the ALLTEL Kentucky network into a single cost-effective platform.

"The addition of full DWDM transport functionality to the ONS 15454 platform adds another dimension to the multiservices aspect of the product. For customers, DWDM transport integration translates into lower operational and capital expenditures and streamlined operations," said Sterling Perrin, Senior Research Analyst, Optical Networks, at IDC.

"Cisco's MSTP strategy allows customers like ALLTEL to cost-effectively deploy new services and extract new revenue streams from their existing infrastructure," said Rajiv Ramaswami, vice president and chief technology officer, Optical Networking Group, Cisco Systems. "Our MSTP offering represents the next step in the evolution of our multiservice platforms by introducing state-of-the-art carrier-class DWDM capabilities."

The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP system can be designed as a standalone 32-channel DWDM network where all service types are transported as 2.5-Gbps or 10-Gbps wavelengths, without requiring the use of SONET/SDH. In addition, in mixed applications, the Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP system can be configured to simultaneously transport both SONET/SDH-based services and wavelength services. The ONS 15454 MSTP platform uses the same chassis, provisioning tools, and element management system as the Cisco ONS 15454 MSPP, thus decreasing the training and sparing requirements and increasing the operational efficiencies of optical networks. The Cisco ONS 15454 MSTP system fully supports 32 channels and offers a full suite of amplifiers, channel, and band optical add/drop multiplexers (OADMs).

About Cisco Complete Optical Multiservice Edge and Transport Portfolio

The Cisco Complete Optical Multiservice Edge and Transport (COMET) product line offers maximum service velocity, density, variety, and capacity, building the foundation to accelerate IP and Optical networking. Cisco COMET news and information can be found at http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/779/servpro/solutions/optical/. Cisco COMET optical solutions can be seen at the SuperComm conference in Atlanta, June 2-5, 2003, at booth number 21355.