Cisco Systems Announces Plans to Double Its Size at Its Research Triangle Park, North Carolina Operations; Doubling the Land, Buildings and Work Force Called For.

RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 7, 1996-- Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CSCO) has exercised its option to purchase an additional 55 acres of land adjacent to their campus in the Research Triangle Park, bringing the total acreage at the company's east coast headquarters to approximately 100 acres.

The announcement was made today by Nancy Bareilles, Cisco Vice President of Worldwide Real Estate and Workplace Resources. The purchase of this additional parcel of land will allow the company to add as many as three buildings to its current three (including one under construction), given the expected continued growth of its internetworking solutions business. These additions will give Cisco nearly 600,000 square feet under roof and the facilities needed to increase their work force in the RTP to nearly 2,000 people, having moved into the first building on the site less than 19 months ago.

"Our plan is to double the land available to grow on, and double the square footage of our facilities, creating the room to house twice the number of Cisco employees originally planned to be based here in the Research Triangle Park," said Bareilles. "This announcement reconfirms our strategic commitment to expand our presence in Research Triangle Park to support the needs of our growing corporation."

Cisco currently occupies two buildings in the RTP, encompassing a total of 200,000 square feet of office and laboratory space. A third building of 80,000 square feet currently under construction is scheduled to be completed in March, 1997. The growing RTP site is home to 15 Cisco work units including large customer support engineering and telebusiness groups, in addition to housing the home base for the corporation's InterWorks Business Unit (IBU).

"With this expansion, Cisco Systems is creating more high-quality, high-wage jobs for our state's workers," Governor Jim Hunt said. "Cisco has proven its commitment to helping North Carolina keep a strong, healthy economy that promotes growth and attracts good business."

The company's announcement was held in a tent erected at the site, overlooking the construction of the new building and the parcel of land recently purchased. Assembled at the event was a sizeable group of state and regional government officials, educators, and business leaders from the private sector who are working together to enhance the physical infrastructure and well as the human capital needed for sustained growth in the area.

Cliff Meltzer, Vice President and General Manager of the IBU, said, "We chose North Carolina as home to our east coast headquarters for a number of reasons, but none more important than the region's ability to produce well educated and qualified workers. Cisco was born out of a university environment and it is only natural that we would be drawn to the world class higher education system here in the Triangle."

This announcement by Cisco was coupled with an encouragement to accelerate efforts to bring internetworking technology into the curricula of education at all levels. "The growth of Internet-based businesses has been likened to a firestorm," noted Nick Francis, Cisco Director of Marketing. "In order to continue to fuel our growth and to capitalize on the benefits brought by the growth of the Internet, we need educators at all levels to work with us to develop curricula and programs designed to provide leading companies like Cisco with a highly trained and technically competent work force."

Cisco chose North Carolina as the place to expand its business operations in 1993.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the leading global supplier of internetworking solutions for corporate intranets and the global Internet. Cisco's products -- including routers, LAN and WAN switches, dial-up access servers and network management software -- are integrated by Cisco IOS(TM) software to link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM networks. Company news and product/service information are available at World Wide Web site http://www.cisco.com. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, Calif. -0-

Note to Editors: Cisco IOS and Cisco Systems are trademarks, and Cisco and the Cisco logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. All other trademarks, service marks, registered trademarks or registered service marks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.

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