Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 4, 2001

Cisco Systems, Inc., the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet, today announced that Metromedia Fiber Network (MFN) will support the Cisco ONS 15540 Extended Services Platform as part of its WaveChannel Optical Network(R), MFN's dense wavelength division multiplexing (DWDM)-based managed network services solution. MFN qualified the Cisco ONS 15540 after successfully completing extensive tests involving a number of DWDM features and applications.

MFN will add the Cisco ONS 15540 to the equipment options offered through its WaveChannel product. This will allow customers using MFN's substantial metro area fiber to use the Cisco ONS 15540 to create fully managed high-speed, protocol-transparent, and secure optical networks, customized to meet their specific needs and requirements. Customers can then rapidly provision network capacity to deploy high-bandwidth applications such as storage area networking, data mirroring, disaster recovery, distance learning, and high-resolution video networking.

"By incorporating the Cisco ONS 15540 into WaveChannel, MFN is leveraging the power of our extensive fiber optic infrastructure with new, leading-edge DWDM technology to deliver resilient, future-proof optical networks that helps customers to meet unpredictable bandwidth requirements," said Hank Kilmer, senior vice president of Engineering for MFN. "MFN's WaveChannel enables customers to create a private, secure and scalable network that is able to handle virtually any type of traffic including voice, data, storage, and video."

Cisco ONS 15540: Optimized for Managed Network Service

Requirements

A part of the Cisco Complete Optical Multiservice Edge & Transport portfolio (see COMET announcement today at http://newsroom.cisco.com) the Cisco ONS 15540 is a fully modular and scalable metro DWDM platform that customers can upgrade as their networking needs grows. In a managed network services provider realm, the Cisco ONS 15540 allows the rapid provisioning of new services over wavelengths for greater revenue per optical fiber with service level agreement (SLA) guarantees on those services.

Designed for both enterprises and service providers, the Cisco ONS 15540 supports a number of networking and storage protocols including Gigabit Ethernet, ESCON, FICON, Fibre Channel, and SONET. It is also built to support a flexible array of DWDM networking architectures including point-to-point, hub-ring, and mesh-ring networks. Using the Cisco ONS 15540's Optical Add/Drop Multiplexing (OADM) modules, managed network service providers can add or drop multiples of 4, 8, or 16 wavelengths at a time on their customers' networks.

"Being accepted into MFN's WaveChannel program is a significant achievement for Cisco in that it provides customers a complete end-to-end managed wavelength solution for resilient data, storage and SONET/SDH networking in the metro market," said Carl Engineer, senior director of marketing for the Metropolitan Services Business Unit at Cisco. "The rigorous and successful qualification testing of the Cisco ONS 15540 with MFN's WaveChannel solution ensures that customers using these services secure, economical optical infrastructures for today's needs and future services."

About Cisco's Complete Optical Multiservice Edge and Transport

Portfolio

The Cisco Complete Optical Multiservice Edge and Transport (COMET) product line offers maximum service velocity, density, variety, and capacity, building the foundation to accelerate IP+Optical networking. Supporting TDM, Ethernet, IP, Storage, and Wavelength services over SONET and DWDM with integrated bandwidth management and end-to-end provisioning, the Cisco COMET portfolio offers efficient, unprecedented flexibility and capacity. With the Cisco COMET portfolio, enterprises and service providers drive profitability and accelerate IP+Optical networking.

About Cisco Systems

Cisco Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq:CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking for the Internet. News and information are available at www.cisco.com

Note to Editors: Cisco, Cisco Systems and the Cisco Systems logo are registered trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. in the U.S. and certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.