SAN JOSE, Calif., November 30, 2004 - Cisco today announced enhancements to the Cisco ONS 15530 dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM) multiservice aggregation platform, a key solution in Cisco's comprehensive Storage Area Networking (SAN) extension portfolio. Cisco offers a versatile SAN extension portfolio including Metro DWDM, Storage over SONET/SDH and Fibre Channel over IP solutions, providing customers the flexibility to meet a broad range of disaster recovery and business continuity requirements from the core of enterprise data centers to remote branch offices.

The new capabilities introduced on the industry leading Cisco ONS 15530 platform include two new line cards:

• 4-Port 1 or 2-gigabits per second (Gbps) Fibre Channel/FICON Aggregation - for higher service density over extended distances
• 8-Port Multiservice Muxponder - for a complete consolidated solution supporting storage, data, voice and video services over a highly available DWDM network

These solutions further extend the Cisco ONS 15530's industry leadership in storage networking service density and interface options, enabling support for newer higher density storage services, greater reach and complete end-to-end solutions.

"Using Cisco optical platforms, we have deployed a high-bandwidth, highly available network between our data centers enabling non-stop processing for critical business systems and a very robust business continuity strategy," said John Merline, Network IT Consultant for Northwestern Mutual. The new 8-port Multiservice Muxponder further enhances the Cisco ONS 15530 Metro DWDM platform by providing lower cost, efficient consolidation of low speed data, storage, voice, and video interfaces over a single DWDM wavelength. Combining the flexible-configuration capabilities of this new line card with the existing high-density support for Fibre Channel, Gigabit Ethernet, and ESCON inherent to the Cisco ONS 15530 gives us a very complete solution for a highly available, scalable dual campus environment."

RBA-Service, a Regional Banking Authority serving multiple financial services customers in Switzerland, is also taking advantage of the new ONS 15530 capabilities.

"Maintaining a business continuity infrastructure to replicate information across our data centers is a key requirement. By using the new 4-port 1G/2G Fibre Channel Aggregation Card for the Cisco ONS 15530, we are better able to achieve greater bandwidth and scalability," said Markus Moser, manager, Networking Group, RBA-Service. "By combining 4-ports of 2 Gbps Fibre Channel over a single DWDM wavelength we can now more efficiently support the large number of storage interfaces required for our business continuity and disaster recovery projects."

Line card summary and pricing/ availability

The 4-port Fibre Channel/FICON aggregation card provides efficient wavelength usage by allowing customers to aggregate up to four 2-Gpbs Fibre Channel or FICON services on a single 10-Gpbs wavelength. This makes the Cisco ONS 15530 an ideal solution for next-generation, high-density SAN extension applications. The 4-Port Fibre Channel/FICON Aggregation Card is priced at $17,995 and is available now.

The 8-port Multiservice Muxponder allows customers to aggregate a mix of storage, data, voice or video services over DWDM using both optical and new copper-based client interfaces. This protocol and data rate flexibility meets the service requirements of managed service providers and enterprises through a single, scalable platform that supports low-speed, legacy services such as T1/E1 or Fast Ethernet as well as high-speed, newer services such as FICON, Fibre Channel, as well as SONET/SDH and digital video services. To provide protection flexibility, the 8-port Multiservice Muxponder is available in both non-splitter and splitter configurations. The 8-Port Multiservice Muxponder is priced at $22,995 for the non-splitter version and $24,995 for the splitter version and is available now.

About Cisco ONS 15530

The Cisco ONS 15530 is a highly scalable and available, easy-to-use Metro DWDM solution for cost-effectively transporting a broad mix of protocols over distance. Designed for high density multiservice aggregation of Storage and Data interfaces over 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps wavelengths, the ONS 15530 is an ideal solution for remote data replication, mirroring and the creation of distributed data centers. A Cisco IOS® based platform, the ONS 15530 offers seamless network management and operational familiarity to assure easy integration into existing enterprise environments.