CISCO SYSTEMS SUPPORTS NEW V.92 AND V.44 MODEM STANDARDS.

Cisco Systems, Inc. has announced that its Cisco AS5x00 remote access products will support V.92 and V.44, the latest industry standards for modem technology. With this announcement, Cisco brings a "Broadband-lite" experience to users accessing the Internet with dial-up/modem technology. V.92 and V.44 enable Internet users to experience the qualities usually associated with broadband for the price of dial-up or modem access.

With V.92 and V.44, Internet dial-up access users can more quickly download web pages, establish faster connections to the Internet, and use a new feature called Modem on Hold, which enables users to suspend an Internet session, accept or place a phone call, and then re-establish the Internet call without losing the original dial-up connection. For service providers, V.92 and V.44 offer dial-up customers a better Internet experience, which translates to increased customer retention. In addition, service providers gain enhanced revenue opportunities with new services, such as Modem on Hold.

According to industry research firm Jupiter Communications, there are more than 50 million people around the world using dial-up technology to access the Internet. "Cisco is committed to the continued innovation and development of new solutions for Internet access, as well as offering enhancements to established technology," said Hoss Christensen, vice president and general manager of Cisco's Remote Access Business Unit. "Supporting the V.92 and V.44 standards enables our service provider and end user customers to get the most out of their existing investment in dial-up technology, while gaining significant enhancements in performance and features."

Modems supporting the standards have been successfully tested with existing Cisco remote access platforms. To gain complete functionality of both standards, both the user's computer and the server it dials into must be equipped with V.92 and V.44 modem technology.

"Consistent with our strategy of offering the highest quality dial access, these new standards will provide our customers with great enhancements in functionality and performance," said NetZero's Chief Technical Officer Jerry Popek. "Given their clear advantages, V.92 and V.44 should reach wide acceptance among the service provider and end user community."

"The dial modem market is alive and continues to grow thanks to new open standard technology advancements such as V.92 and V.44," said Jennifer Liscom, principal analyst of Dataquest's Remote and Internet Access Telecommunications program. "Support for these new standards gives Cisco a significant competitive edge as it offers consumers a broadband-lite Web experience."

The new V.44 standard enables more efficient data compression, allowing throughput to the end user to be significantly increased -- reducing the download time of web pages. The new V.92 standard represents three significant modem enhancements including Quick Connect, which reduces the amount of time required for a modem to connect to the Internet. In some instances, a user may see a 50% reduction in connection time. Secondly, the V.92 standard includes Modem on Hold allowing users to accept an incoming phone call without terminating their existing Internet connection. For users with only one phone line in their home or office, Modem on Hold enables them to handle both data and voice calls over the same telephone line. Third, V.92 supports PCM Upstream, which allows for faster uploading and sending of large email messages, photos and documents. With PCM Upstream, users gain faster upstream communication with speeds reaching up to 48,000 bits per second, as compared to 31,200 bits per second with the previous technology.

Cisco AS5x00 series remote access platforms supporting V.92 and V.44 will be available in Q1 2001. All future AS5x00 remote access platforms will also support these new standards. A free software download of the new technology will be available to Cisco customers at cisco.com.