SAN JOSE, Calif., February 25, 2004 - Cisco Systems, Inc., announced that Bell Canada, Canada's leading communications company, has recently selected the Cisco® 12000 Series routers to serve as the foundation platform for its single, converged Internet Protocol/Multiprotocol Label Switching (IP/MPLS) service delivery network.

The convergence of multiple services -- Internet, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay, Ethernet and Virtual Private Network (VPN) -- onto a common IP/MPLS core and edge network infrastructure provides Bell Canada with greater service flexibility, and enhanced network operational and investment efficiencies. By migrating to an IP/MPLS backbone network, Bell Canada is able to consolidate ATM and Frame Relay switch functionality on the Cisco 12000, while also maintaining its existing Layer 2 VPN customer service level agreements and end-to-end management architecture.

"The Cisco 12000 Series supports our move towards a single IP/MPLS service delivery network with a national footprint," said Carl B. Condon, vice president, Technology Development at Bell Canada. "This next-generation IP network will provide the foundation for the delivery of an integrated suite of IP data, voice, and video services to business customers via converged network architectures."

To support these converged network requirements, Cisco has delivered a series of innovative core and edge enhancements to its Cisco 12000 Series routers to benefit its service provider customers, including:

• Adding a suite of new hardware interfaces - Ethernet, ATM, Frame Relay and low speed leased line - powered by the Cisco IP Services Engine (ISE) -- that delivers a robust set of features while designed to avoid performance degradation.
• Upgrading the Cisco 12000 Series to 40Gbps/slot, thereby doubling the capacity of networks while helping to preserve customers' platform investment.
• Enabling converged ATM and Time Division Multiplex (TDM) traffic over an MPLS core network so service providers no longer need to invest in separate, multiple infrastructures.
• Enabling service providers to mix VPN services on the same interfaces to lower the capital cost of supporting a broad range of services.
• Enhancing MPLS operations and management capabilities to provide more granular instrumentation and enable customers to streamline operations and management.

"As the service provider community transitions their separate networks toward one core IP/MPLS network infrastructure, Cisco continues to deliver the innovative multiservice edge features that provide service flexibility without requiring customers to invest in a new router platform," said Mike Volpi, senior vice president of Cisco's Routing Technology Group. "Bell Canada represents a growing list of carriers that are deploying the Cisco 12000 to consolidate traffic onto a more secure, cost-effective, flexible, and scalable Cisco packet infrastructure as a means to drive down costs and enable new service offerings."