SAN JOSE, Calif., October 13, 2003 - Cisco Systems Inc. today announced the Catalyst 4500 Series 48 port 100BASE-BX10-D Bi-Directional Fast Ethernet line card, providing IEEE 802.3ah standard compatible technology for network operators building next generation Metro Ethernet access networks.

Bi-directional Fast Ethernet interfaces operate over a single strand of fiber, providing significant savings in fiber, cable management and other installation costs as well as long term operating expenses. Fast Ethernet over single mode fiber supports compelling data, voice and video services affordably while creating a fiber plant that can support higher bandwidth services in the future.

"We evaluated Fast Ethernet solutions from multiple vendors and chose the Cisco bi-directional solution. The Cisco solution was selected because it is standards-based and a reliable, secure, scalable and affordable interface," said Brian Strom, president and CEO, SureWest Communications. "The Cisco solution can help enable SureWest (NASDAQ: SURW) to maintain cost-effectiveness while delivering voice, video and data services over a single infrastructure."

"SureWest has deployed multiple components of Cisco's metro Ethernet switching portfolio for our service delivery network," said Bill DeMuth, vice president and chief technology officer of SureWest Communications. "Using the Cisco Catalyst 6500 switches in the core and the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Switches at the edge provides SureWest with the advanced technology to bring our current bundled services of digital television, high-speed Internet and IP telephony to our customer, efficiently and effectively.

In addition to the new Bi-direction Fast-Ethernet line card, Cisco is announcing three innovations in security, DHCP Snooping, Dynamic ARP Inspection and IP Source Guard on the Cisco Catalyst 4500. These new features insure network availability by stopping a variety of security attacks. DHCP Snooping prevents malicious and misconfigured home routers from taking over a service provider network's DHCP service. IP Source Guard ties users to their allocated IP address and Dynamic ARP Inspection stops subscribers from becoming the router gateway. As a result of these security enhancements, the Catalyst 4500 helps prevent subscribers from masquerading as the network's DHCP server, router gateway and other users.

Pricing and Availability

The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series 48 port 100BASE-BX10-D Bi-Directional Fast Ethernet line card is scheduled to be available in January 2004 for a base price of $19,995.

For more information on Cisco's secure and scalable Metro Ethernet access solutions, please visit the Web at: http://www.cisco.com/go/efm.