Cisco Announces Industry's Most Comprehensive Portfolio of Customer Premises Equipment for Value-Added Business DSL Service.

Business Editors & Technology Writers

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 18, 2000

Cisco IOS-based DSL CPE Enables Service Providers to Generate

New Revenue, Reduce Operational Costs, and Expand Customer Base

Cisco Systems, Inc., (Nasdaq:CSCO) the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced the industry's most comprehensive portfolio of Business DSL Customer Premises Equipment (CPE). With the introduction of the Cisco SOHO 77 ADSL Router and ADSL WAN (wide-area network) Interface Card for the Cisco 1700, 2600, and 3600 Series of modular access routers (available on the Cisco 1700 end of September and on the Cisco 2600 and 3600 in Q1 of 2001) Cisco becomes the only vendor to offer DSL CPE for businesses of all sizes. See related announcements of the Cisco SOHO 77 and Cisco WAN Interface Card also issued today. Cisco's Business DSL CPE enables Service Providers to deploy value-added business services to create new revenue-generating opportunities, reduce operational costs, and expand their customer base.

The Cisco Business DSL CPE portfolio is based on Cisco IOS software, which provides the foundation for value-added business DSL services. These services build on the Cisco GlobalDSL strategy by providing the most comprehensive solutions set and enabling Service Providers to serve the broadest range of business customer segments from SOHO (small office/home office) to SMB (small-to-medium businesses) to Enterprise branch office.

"By providing a cost-effective method like DSL for SMBs and branch offices to connect to the Internet, Cisco is helping businesses accelerate their use and achieve the full potential of the Internet," said Bruce Laird, senior director of product marketing for Cisco Systems. "As the leader in business-class CPE routers for traditional WAN technologies, Cisco is now helping business customers transition to broadband service."

New Service Provider Revenue Opportunities

DSL service is becoming commoditized due to the lack of differentiation in the levels of service and increased competition amongst Service Providers. By using Cisco's solutions to enable value-added services for business customers, Service Providers can now differentiate themselves, generate new revenue, and increase customer loyalty. Cisco IOS software provides the foundation to enable these services that include: managed Internet/network access with differentiated classes of service, firewall, VPN (Virtual Private Network), voice services for inter-office phone calls, and support for video-conferencing and multicast video.

Cisco's comprehensive line of DSL CPE and Central Office (CO) equipment, all running Cisco IOS software, enable Service Providers to deliver value-added business DSL while giving them the flexibility to design and deploy DSL solutions in the manner that best fits their business model.

"The world-wide opportunities for DSL deployments in business will take off when services go beyond basic Internet access to include other functionality such as firewall and security, voice over data, VPNs, and differentiated quality of service. By offering a wide variety of affordable CPE offerings that can address the needs of multiple business segments, Cisco is well on its way to creating a competitive position in DSL for business," said Ron Westfall, senior analyst at Current Analysis, a consulting firm in Sterling, VA.

Cisco Business DSL CPE Helps Reduce Operational Costs

Cisco Business DSL CPE can also help Service Providers reduce their operational costs, both in service deployment and life-cycle costs. To help reduce deployment costs, Cisco Business DSL CPE supports the OpenDSL Initiative, an industry-supported effort to promote DSL interoperability among equipment from multiple vendors, as well as auto-configuration to eliminate expensive truck rolls. Cisco Business DSL CPE also supports Flow-Through DSL provisioning with Cisco's Order-to-Service solution, which was announced last week.

Additionally, Cisco offers Configuration Express, a program designed to ship pre-configured CPE directly to end users, eliminating the need for Service Providers to load an initial router configuration and handle shipping logistics.

To reduce life-cycle costs, Cisco IOS software provides advanced remote debug and troubleshooting capabilities. This allows Service Providers to remotely monitor their DSL lines and CPE to give quick responses to network issues or customer service inquiries, while reducing the number of on-site service calls.

Cisco Helps Service Providers Expand Customer Base to Broader Customer Segments

Through the value-added services and broad portfolio that Cisco Business DSL CPE provides, Service Providers can offer business customers affordable DSL without compromising on the features that they demand. Service Providers can reach all customer segments from SOHO to small and medium businesses to enterprise telecommuters and branch offices. In addition, Cisco will also continue to provide new DSL technologies such as G.shdsl to further meet the needs of business customers.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Cisco news and information are available at http://www.cisco.com.

Editor's Note: Additional information on Cisco's Small/Medium Business networking solutions and services is available at http://www.cisco.com/go/smbiz. For more information on the Cisco Business DSL CPE portfolio, please visit http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/146/kits/smb/dsl_strategy/index.html.