HOLMDEL, NJ., June 24, 2003 - VPIsystems, the leading developer of photonic design automation software, today announced that it will team up with Cisco Systems to provide industry-leading optical network configuration software to Cisco and its customers. The combination of optical solutions and state-of-the-art optical network configuration software will enable customers to generate a realistic and deployable cost-effective network design.

Cisco will use VPI software to create cost-optimized network configurations for its optical products. Network configuration software captures carrier's network requirements and detailed product specifications to automatically calculate a deployable, optimized network design and create a list of required equipment. The tools integrate best-in-class network planning, link engineering and equipment configuration technology from VPIsystems in one streamlined software environment.

Rajiv Ramaswani, Cisco's vice president and chief technology officer (CTO) for the Optical Networking Group, says Cisco is teaming up with VPI because of its advanced planning technology and expertise. "VPI has a proven track record in network planning, configuration and software development. The VPI team understands how optical equipment is built and the critical nature of optical transport planning. They know how to optimize planning tools for our optical product range and have clearly proved their ability to capture this information in an intuitive software environment that is easy to use."

VPIsystems CTO Harshavardhana welcomes the collaboration with Cisco. "The relationship between VPI and Cisco will raise the bar with a new class of software we refer to as network configuration tools. The new tools we develop through this relationship will capture network planning expertise and detailed product knowledge to generate a realistic and deployable network design that considers all manner of practical constraints."

About VPIsystems™

VPIsystems makes software to design, optimize, benchmark and configure optical equipment and network solutions. VPI software drives innovation through the bandwidth value chain, from R&D in optical components and DWDM transmission systems through to their configuration and deployment in optimized network solutions. The technical integrity of VPI products and services has been recognized with an Engineering Excellence Award from the Optical Society of America and a Vendor Excellence Award from Sprint ATL.