Cisco Announces the Cisco TelePresence Meeting Solution -- A Breakthrough "In-Person" Experience for Real-Time, Remote, Business Communication and Collaboration

Innovative Solution Combines Audio, Video and Interactive Elements to Connect People and Transform Business

SAN JOSE, Calif. - October 23, 2006 - Cisco today announced the Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution, a revolutionary new category of products that create live, “face-to-face” meeting experiences over an Internet Protocol (IP) network empowering users to interact and collaborate in ways they could not before.

The Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution combines the reach, intelligence and reliability of the network with the simplicity of a telephone interface to deliver an entirely new way for people to meet and collaborate. Cisco TelePresence Meeting is the first application of Cisco TelePresence technology. It was developed by Cisco from the ground up - with 25 patents pending -- to revolutionize the way organizations communicate internally and externally with employees, customers and partners.

“Based on the tests we have conducted with the new solution, we are excited about the potential that this new collaboration tool has in helping Yahoo! communicate and collaborate more frequently and effectively with our key stakeholders,” said Mercedes De Luca, vice president of Global Information Technology Infrastructure at Yahoo!.

The Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution-available in two versions for large and small meetings-combines the industry’s first ultra-high definition 1080p video and high-quality, wideband spatial audio, imperceptible low latency, with comprehensive environmental design. Meeting participants feel as if they are in the same room together, even though they may be located across the globe. With the ability to see and hear others in ultra-high definition video and wideband spatial audio, users experience subtleties and nuance of conversations.

“The solution for effective face-to-face remote meetings has proven to be an elusive dream for businesses in the past,” said Marthin De Beer, vice president of Cisco’s Emerging Markets Technology Group. “Customers have been asking for a technology solution to improve critical business relationships and ”in-person“ collaboration over long distances. Until now, there was no effective way to increase the number of high-quality interactions and drive greater productivity without more travel. Cisco has met this demand by creating a new way to meet. The Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution takes advantage of the power and intelligence of an IP network and Unified Communications to facilitate real-time, face-to-face conversations between people around the world to simply and easily increase productivity and speed decision making.”

Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution is available in two models. The Cisco TelePresence 1000 is designed for small group meetings and one-on-one conversations, as well as emerging applications like the “virtual assistant.” The Cisco TelePresence 1000 is ideal for use in executive offices, hotel lobbies, bank branches and medical offices. The Cisco TelePresence 3000 is designed for meetings of 12 people or more around a virtual table. The product is ideal for executive round-tables and staff meetings, as well as general employee, customer and partner collaborative meetings. Key benefits and features include:

* Simplicity - Setting up meetings is as easy as creating a calendar invitation via integration with enterprise groupware like Microsoft Outlook and Cisco Unified CallManager 5.1. Users can then simply launch a Cisco TelePresence call with the touch of a button on a Cisco IP Phone or dial any other Cisco TelePresence room directly, just like a regular phone call.

* Quality - Life-size, ultra high-definition 1080p video delivering 1080p resolution for a higher-quality image that is 6x better than standard television and more than 2x better than HD TV. Specially-designed ultra high-definition cameras support the high-quality video and require no user operation. Wideband spatial audio and multi-channel, full-duplex sound provides excellent voice projection and helps enable multiple simultaneous conversations, just like what typically occurs during an in-person meeting. Specially designed microphones eliminate sound interference.

* Reliability - Integration with the existing enterprise IP network as a platform helps ensure a high quality, highly secure and available connection for an optimal experience with every call.

“The Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution is something you really need to experience to fully appreciate its power,” said Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president of enterprise research for the Yankee Group. “It is very different than being in a traditional video conferencing session. It is truly the first Unified Communications application that has the power to change the way people interact with each other. Cisco TelePresence is the only video system I have seen that makes you feel as if you are in the same room with others, even when those people are located across the globe.”

The Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution is an integral component within Cisco’s Service Oriented Network Architecture (SONA). This architectural framework helps enterprises evolve their existing communications infrastructure into an intelligent information network. Working within the SONA framework, Cisco offers real-time collaborative applications such as voice and video that feature quality-of-service, security and high availability and operate on a single, integrated network.

Delivering the Cisco TelePresence Experience

Cisco has established a collaborative go-to-market strategy designed to deliver a high-quality TelePresence customer experience through a global community of service providers and channel partners. The Cisco TelePresence Advanced Technology Provider (ATP) Program currently includes 23 partners from around the globe. The program is focused on helping partners provide the expertise, intellectual property and lifecycle services capabilities necessary to deliver the Cisco TelePresence experience.

Cisco TelePresence Meeting solution is best delivered over a Cisco-certified TelePresence network connection. Cisco is developing a program through which service providers may attain TelePresence network certification. Cisco TelePresence certified service providers work to ensure that businesses get the life-like communications experience they demand.

List Pricing and Availability

The Cisco TelePresence 1000, $79,000 USD list; and the Cisco TelePresence 3000, $299,000 USD list, are expected to be available in December 2006. No monthly operating fee is required. Cisco Systems Capital, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Cisco Systems Inc., is offering flexible financing terms for TelePresence Meeting solutions. Leases including consultation, equipment and installation, are available per room from 36 to 60 months. For more information about today’s news, including related announcements with AT&T and Verizon Business, please see:
http://www.cisco.com/go/telepresence/ and http://newsroom.cisco.com/video/telepresence.html.
About Cisco Systems

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

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