SAN JOSE, Calif., and TOKYO, Japan, January 13, 2005 - Cisco Systems®, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO), today announced that Softbank BB Corporation has implemented the Cisco Catalyst® 6500 intelligent multilayer modular switches to support the deployment of new services in Japan offered under the "Yahoo! BB" brand name. This follows an earlier announcement in December 2004 that Softbank BB will deploy the Cisco CRS-1 Carrier Routing System into its backbone.
Softbank BB is one of Japan's largest broadband service providers with more than 4.6 million subscribers. Under the Yahoo!BB brand, it offers such services as Internet connectivity, IP telephony, public wireless LAN services, video-on-demand, and online gaming.
The Catalyst 6500 switch with the Supervisor 720 was installed at Softbank's points of presence (PoPs) to enable cost-effective, high performance Ethernet access aggregation and advanced network services such as multicasting. With high density high performance 10GbE aggregation and scalable hardware services, such as multicast, the Catalyst 6500 solution helped enable Softbank BB to offer next generation IP services to its large and rapidly growing customer base.
"As a leading broadband content and services provider, we continue to focus on delivering profitable, innovative services with the highest quality and reliability to bring the broadband revolution to Japan. We are impressed with the Catalyst 6500 features and performance, which clearly met our rigorous requirements for next generation access infrastructure for deploying differentiated broadband services to our rapidly growing subscriber base," said Mr. Keiichi Makizono, general manager of the Technology Division for Softbank BB.
The backbone of the Softbank BB network will be powered by the Cisco CRS-1, the world's most advanced routing system, which has a system capacity of up to 92 Terabits per second (Tbps) and is designed to provide continuous system operation, service flexibility and extended system longevity to service providers. Softbank BB purchased Cisco CRS-1 routers to be deployed in a number of cities, including Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya, Sapporo, and Fukuoka.
About Softbank BB Corporation
Softbank BB is the largest company in the Softbank Group and was established in January 2003 through the merger of BB Technology Corporation, Softbank Networks Inc., Softbank EC Holdings and Softbank Commerce Corporation. It handles all aspects of broadband services centering on Yahoo! BB, including system development, technological development and sales support. The company not only provides high-speed internet connections, but also a rich communication environment allowing people to share wisdom and knowledge through a variety of applications operating on top of this network.URL:http://www.softbankbb.co.jp
