SAN JOSE, Calif., March 14, 2005 - Cisco Systems®, Inc., today announced continued momentum in its product certification and evaluation program with the Cisco Internetworking Operating System (IOS) Firewall earning the ICSA Labs Modular Firewall Certification Criteria Version 4.1, one of the highest levels of firewall certification available in the industry. This highlights Cisco's ongoing commitment to provide customers with a wide array of products that adhere to industry-recognized security standards and evaluation criteria that include ICSA Labs, the Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140, and Common Criteria.

The Cisco IOS Firewall, running on Cisco 1800, 2800, and 3800 series integrated services routers, met the ICSA Labs criteria, which are created by ICSA Labs in conjunction with the input of leading firewall vendors, including Cisco, that are members of the ICSA Labs Firewall Product Developer Consortium.

"ICSA Labs is pleased to recognize the Cisco IOS Firewall for this latest certification as it represents ICSA Labs highest level of firewall certification to date, and is based on comprehensive and robust performance testing " said George Japak, vice president of ICSA Lab, an independent division of Cybertrust. "This latest certification is one of many ICSA Labs certifications Cisco has earned, and underscores the company's commitment to a comprehensive and active product certification and evaluation program."

Mizuho Capital Markets Corporation (MCMC), a preeminent swaps and derivatives market maker, recognizes the value of these types of certifications. "In an industry where the highly secure transmittal of real-time market data information is business-critical, it becomes imperative that elements of our underlying infrastructure adhere to certain industry-recognized security standards," said JR Van Noy, Assistant Vice President of IT at MCMC. "Because the Cisco IOS Firewall met the ICSA Labs standard set of functional and assurance criteria elements, it helped give us the confidence that it was ready for deployment in our highly demanding industry."

In addition, several other IOS security features and Cisco routing, switching and security appliance-based products have completed evaluation and been certified not only by ICSA Labs, but also by FIPS 140 and Common Criteria. The FIPS 140 is a specification for cryptographic modules. Common Criteria is an internationally recognized methodology for security evaluation and validation.

Cisco provides a variety of platforms and solutions to meet the ever-changing demands of the industry, and Cisco will continue to demonstrate its commitment to the standards process by placing the majority of products through the certification process. This commitment has yielded over 30 certifications against the breadth and depth of more than 100 different products and platform solutions. More information can be found at: http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns340/ns394/ns171/networking_solutions_audience_business_benefit0900aecd8009a16f.html