Cisco Systems Helps Network Managers Build Fault Tolerance, Redundancy Into ATM Networks; New software and hardware advances will speed deployment of ATM.

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug. 13, 1996--Cisco Systems, Inc. today announced significant new software and hardware advances for building fault tolerance and redundancy into LAN Emulation (LANE)-based ATM networks. These advances will give customers a highly reliable, standards-based ATM LAN Emulation solution for production environments. They include:

-- Cisco's LANE Simple Server Redundancy Protocol (SSRP), a Cisco IOS for ATM software protocol. LAN Emulation SSRP provides redundancy for all of the server components in LAN Emulation -- the LAN Emulation Configuration Server (LECS), the LAN Emulation Server (LES) and the Broadcast and Unknown Server (BUS).

-- Cisco's Hot Standby Router Protocol (HSRP) for LAN Emulation. This will give customers inter-virtual LAN (VLAN) router redundancy in LAN Emulation backbones. Both HSRP and SSRP can interoperate with any standard LAN Emulation 1.0 client.

-- A new version of the ATM LAN Emulation module, with dual physical-layer interfaces, for Cisco's Catalyst 5000 multi-layer LAN switch. The new module provides link redundancy, allowing a network administrator to connect a single uplink to two ATM switches, similar to a dual-homing configuration, without consuming multiple uplink ports.

-- Cisco's standards-based Private Network-to-Network Interface (P-NNI) software enables multiple, redundant ATM links to be configured between switches. P-NNI, the ATM Forum-specified call routing protocol, detects network loops and ensures only one path is used per ATM connection. This allows network administrators to load share their traffic over multiple ATM links while ensuring the remaining links act as backups should another link become disabled.

"Users connected to our ATM network must always be able to reach their default router to other VLANs and to the Internet," said Allen Robel, senior network planner at Indiana University in Bloomington. "HSRP for LAN Emulation provides quick cut-over to a backup router, allowing us to deploy a highly survivable infrastructure, which is transparent to the user. Cisco's SSRP and Dual Phy LANE Module for the Catalyst 5000 will further strengthen this environment with LANE service and physical link redundancy."

Eliminating single points of failure

Relying upon standard mechanisms already defined for LAN Emulation clients in the ATM Forum's LAN Emulation specification 1.0, Cisco developed SSRP to ensure that neither the LECS nor LES/BUS components would become single points of failure in ATM LAN Emulation networks. LAN Emulation clients use these servers for important functions such as LAN address-to-ATM address resolution and forwarding broadcast and multicast traffic over an emulated LAN. However, the ATM LAN Emulation 1.0 specification only specifies one set of these servers per emulated LAN/VLAN, thus representing a potential single point of failure.

"Cisco's SSRP protocol allows network managers to deploy multiple LECS and LES/BUS components in a backup scheme for a given set of emulated LANs," said David Benham, senior ATM product manager at Cisco Systems. "And, customers will have complete freedom to deploy any standard ATM LAN Emulation 1.0 clients in their network, including those from Cisco's ATM Interoperability Partners."

Cisco has been working with its ATM Interoperability Partners and with other ATM adapter vendors that support standard ATM Forum LAN Emulation clients to ensure interoperability. Adaptec, Inc., Efficient Networks, Inc., Interphase Corporation, Olicom, Sun Microsystems and ZeitNet have or will exploit the capabilities of Cisco's LAN Emulation redundancy solution. Cisco and these partners have also outlined which options in the LAN Emulation 1.0 specification should be implemented to utilize Cisco's SSRP in environments that are not yet running the P-NNI. The outline of options is now available to any developer of LAN Emulation 1.0 clients at Cisco's World Wide Web site http://www.cisco.com.

The Hot Standby Router Protocol, originally introduced by Cisco in 1994 for packet- and frame-based networks, will provide inter-VLAN router redundancy for ATM LAN Emulation networks. If two or more routers are connected to an emulated LAN, Cisco's HSRP allows one of those routers to monitor the status of the other and take over the functions of that router should it become unavailable. HSRP over LANE operates transparently to hosts that must reach their inter- VLAN router.

Cisco's HSRP for LAN Emulation and the LANE Simple Server Redundancy Protocol will be part of a Cisco IOS software release available in September. The new, dual physical-layer ATM LAN Emulation Module will ship in October. It is priced the same as the single physical-layer version: $8,995 for Category 5 unshielded twisted pair wiring; $9,995 for multimode fiber; and $14,995 for single-mode fiber.

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 the Cisco IOS 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.

For more information on the LAN Emulation solutions provided by Cisco's ATM Interoperability Partners, please contact: -0-

Adaptec, Inc.
Eric Brown
[phone]
[e-mail]

Efficient Networks, Inc.
Lori Hicks
[phone]
[e-mail]

Interphase Corporation
Mike Eckley
[phone]
[e-mail]

Olicom
Bob Cicciarella
[phone]
[e-mail]

Gordon Woode
Simon/McGarry Public Relations
[phone]
[e-mail]

Torkil Oelgaard
011-45-45-27-01-98
[e-mail]

Sun Microsystems
Judy Depuy
[phone]
[e-mail]

ZeitNet
George Marshall
[phone]
[e-mail].

-0-

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CONTACT: Cisco Systems, Inc.

Steve Bauer, 408/526-4433

[e-mail]

or

Cunningham Communication, Inc.

Rona Brodrick, 408/764-0740

[e-mail]