Cisco Makes Advanced Networking Performance and Features More Affordable for Small-to-Medium Business and Education Markets.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 24, 2003

New Chassis-Based and Fixed Configuration Switches Help Make Small

to Medium Networks More Intelligent, Secure and Reliable

Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO), today introduced several new intelligent LAN switching solutions that make advanced networking features and capabilities more affordable for small-to-medium business (SMB) and education customers. The Cisco(R) Catalyst(R) 4500 Supervisor Engine II-Plus, Cisco Catalyst 4500 next generation 48-port 10/100/1000 Module, Cisco Catalyst 4500 Access Gateway Module (AGM) enhancements, and fixed configuration Cisco Catalyst 2970 and 2940 series switches provide SMB and education customers a range of deployment options and the ability to affordably deploy intelligent services, improve security and reduce network operating costs.

The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Supervisor Engine II-Plus is a Cisco IOS(R) Software-based intelligent control module for the Catalyst 4500 Series chassis. Optimized for SMB and education network requirements, the supervisor engine delivers the performance, intelligent services and reliability most appropriate for smaller networks. The supervisor engine has a scalable switching architecture with quality of service, advanced user-based security and multicast support to augment network performance and security for new capabilities such as wireless connectivity and IP telephony.

Customers can also deploy the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Supervisor Engine II-Plus in the Cisco Catalyst 4507R chassis for a redundant configuration to provide greater network reliability in small- or medium-sized networks. With support for high-density in-line power, the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series is also a flexible, enduring platform to support a converged, medium-sized network.

The new high-density Cisco Catalyst 4500 48-port 10/100/1000 Module makes Gigabit Ethernet more affordable and has lower power requirements helping to reduce operational overhead.

Cisco Catalyst 4500 AGM, which provides integrated WAN and IP telephony services in the Catalyst 4500 chassis, now has twice the previous single-line telephone port density with a new 16-port flex-module for analog devices such as speakerphones, fax machines and transaction terminals. This allows customers to migrate to IP telephony yet still support existing office equipment. Other new Cisco Catalyst 4500 AGM features include: support for more concurrent conference calls, remote site survivability capabilities to protect against network downtime, and expanded compatibility with all Cisco IOS Software-based supervisor engines, such as the new Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Supervisor Engine II-Plus.

Cisco Adds Fixed Configuration Switches for SMB and Education Customers

The Cisco Catalyst 2970 Series is a 24-port fixed configuration switch that gives customers a more affordable way to increase productivity in high-performance SMB workgroups or very small branch offices with 10/100/1000 connections to the desktop and intelligent services. The Cisco Catalyst 2940 Series includes two small 8-port standalone switches, which were specifically designed for unique deployments outside the wiring closet, such as school classrooms, conference rooms and very small workgroup environments.

Wake County Schools Uses Switches to Augment Learning Environment

Wake County School District, in Raleigh, North Carolina, serves more than 100,000 students in 127 schools, and has selected a Cisco end-to-end network for both wired and wireless access. The Cisco Catalyst 2970, Cisco Catalyst 2940 and the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Supervisor Engine II-Plus will serve in the district's classrooms and sub-workgroups. All schools are currently networked, and the district plans to upgrade to IP telephony in the future.

"With more than 2.5 million Web requests per hour, our job is to remove barriers to give students controlled access to learning resources," said Vass Johnson, director of Network Systems, Wake County Public School District. "The common interface and centralized management of Cisco products offer improved total cost of ownership. Deploying the Catalyst 4500 Series chassis with the Supervisor Engine II-Plus gave us a high-density chassis in the wiring closet and the ability to provide the rich intelligent services and security we needed for our large student base. The Catalyst 2970 Series deployments allow us to affordably bring Gigabit Ethernet connectivity to smaller workgroup deployments like student labs, while the Catalyst 2940 Series allows us to now extend network connectivity to all classrooms because of its size, density and theft prevention options."

Simplified Network Management and Configuration for SMB Networks

Cisco Cluster Management Suite (CMS), a key management option for Cisco Catalyst fixed configuration switches, will be extended to all Cisco IOS Software-based supervisor engines for the Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series platform. Cisco CMS, a free Web-based tool, is embedded in a switch to help reduce operating costs by giving customers a greater level of management control over switches geographically dispersed switches.

Cisco also introduced Cisco Express Setup, a new tool that provides a simplified switch set-up. This feature was designed to ease the out-of-the-box experience for customers of Cisco Catalyst fixed configuration switches.

Pricing, and Projected Availability and Further Information

The Cisco Catalyst 4500 Series Supervisor Engine II-Plus is available now for $8,495. The next generation Cisco Catalyst 4500 48-port 10/100/1000 module, Cisco Catalyst 4500 AGM and 16-port FXS module for AGM are also available now for $5,495, $10,995, and $3,995 respectively. The Cisco Catalyst 2970 Series with twenty four 10/100/1000 ports is available now for $4,995. The Cisco Catalyst 2940 Series with eight 10/100 ports with one 100BASE-FX or SFP Uplink and the Catalyst 2940 Series with eight 10/100 ports with one 1000BASE-T Uplink is scheduled to be available in July 2003 at $995 and $795 respectively.

For additional information on these products, please go to: http://www.cisco.com/go/smb-switching.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. Information on Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

Cisco, Cisco Systems, the Cisco Systems logo, Catalyst, and Cisco IOS are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.