Cisco Systems And Intel Team To Help Accelerate Deployment Of Gigabit Ethernet

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 22, 2001 - Cisco Systems, Inc. and Intel Corporation today announced they have entered into a marketing agreement to help accelerate Gigabit Ethernet network deployments.

The two companies led the industry's transition from 10 Mbps Ethernet networks to 100 Mbps Fast Ethernet. With the IEEE 802.3ab 1000BaseT standard* and the price/performance economics in place, customers can now migrate from 100 to 1000 Mbps in their network infrastructures, servers, and, in the future, desktops. Cisco and Intel's agreement is designed to help ease network migrations for midmarket (mid-size companies and enterprise branches with 100-999 employees) and enterprise organizations.

"Cisco and Intel share a common vision of pervasive bandwidth in midmarket and enterprise networks," said Larry Birenbaum, general manager and group vice president of Cisco's Ethernet Access Group. "By joining forces to promote 1000BaseT, we can accelerate the extension of Ethernet to Gigabit speed for server connectivity and copper-based networks that were previously constrained to 100Mbps."

"We felt it was critical to test our products for interoperability and provide service and support, so that customers can deploy Gigabit Ethernet over copper networks with confidence," stated Greg Lang, vice president and general manager of Intel's Platform Networking Group. "By combining market leading Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switches and Intel Gigabit Ethernet network adapters and silicon, we can enable our customers to make a smooth transition to high-speed networks."

To further support the adoption of 1000BaseT as a technology of choice for network infrastructure and server connectivity, Cisco has introduced a comprehensive Gigabit Ethernet solution for copper-based networks in a related announcement today, "Cisco Drives Transition to Intelligent Gigabit Ethernet Networks."

1000BaseT: The Easy-to-Deploy, Affordable Way to Achieve Higher Performance
Gigabit Ethernet over copper technology delivers all the benefits of Ethernet, while providing far greater speeds to support today's most demanding applications. In addition, customers can use their existing Category 5 wiring infrastructure that they use for 10/100 Mbps connections. This enables IT departments to deploy Cisco and Intel 1000BaseT solutions incrementally to relieve bottlenecks - reaping 10 times the network performance over Fast Ethernet for very little additional expense.

Cisco-Intel Join Efforts to Enable Migration to 1000BaseT
Cisco and Intel engineers have performed a series of tests that has verified interoperability between the Intel® PRO/1000 family of adapters and the following Cisco switching platforms: Catalyst® 2950 Series, Catalyst 3500 Series XL, Catalyst 3550-12T, Catalyst 4000 Family and Catalyst 6000 Family. The testing simulated real-world, physical network environments. As a result, customers and resellers can trust that these products perform together reliably.

In addition, Cisco and Intel will make it easier for customers to purchase Gigabit Ethernet products by enabling leading distributors to offer a combined solution of Cisco switches and Intel network adapters.

The two companies also have developed an enhanced, integrated service and support process for customers. Customers with technical concerns can contact either Cisco or Intel and receive professional troubleshooting and support.

Cisco and Intel are actively engaging in a series of new sales, marketing and training initiatives to help customers and partners benefit from the added performance of Gigabit Ethernet, including a new industry Web site, http://www.gigabitsolution.com

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

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