Leading Telecom Firms Initiate Multiservice Switching Forum

Industry Forum To Accelerate Deployment Of Open
Multiservice Switching Systems

Fremont, Calif. - November 23, 1998 -

A group of leading telecom firms announced today the formation of
the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF). The founding members from the
carrier and equipment community include technology leaders such as
MCI WorldCom, Cisco Systems, Bellcore, AT&T, Alcatel, Ascend
Communications, British Telecom, Fujitsu Network Communications,
Lucent Technologies, Nortel Networks, Siemens, Telecom Italia, Telia
AB, and US West.

The new forum is an open membership organization committed to
reaching and promoting consensus on implementation of ATM-capable
multiservice switching systems. These systems support voice, video,
private line, and data such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM),
Frame Relay, and Internet Protocol (IP) services. Multiservice
systems may use a broad range of access technologies, including
traditional Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Digital Subscriber Line
(xDSL), wireless data, and cable modems.

The MSF will enable carriers to deploy open switching systems with
components from multiple vendors. This will accelerate deployment of
next generation networks supporting advanced, integrated broadband
communications services.

"The MSF is dedicated to an open systems model that will
expedite the delivery of new integrated broadband communications
services to the marketplace," said Charles Corbalis, Vice
President and General Manager of Cisco's Multiservice Switching
Business Unit. "Multiservice switching systems will benefit from
the same innovation and cost reductions that open systems in the
computing world have achieved. The MSF is a clear win-win for the
industry."

The transition of traditional TDM networks to a packet/cell
network model, which supports voice, data and video services, is
already underway with the growth of the Internet. The MSF will
complement the scope and activities of existing associations by
enabling the integration of leading components from multiple vendors
into a single multiservice switching system. The MSF will focus on
protocols and interfaces used within switching systems and will use
specifications of the ATM Forum, Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF), International Telecommunications Union (ITU), Frame Relay
Forum, Bellcore Generic Requirements process, and other industry
associations.

"Bringing industry leaders together is critical to achieving
the open systems goals of the MSF Forum," said John Boese, Vice
President and General Manager of Advanced Network Solutions at
Bellcore. "We also plan to work in conjunction with other public
forums and standards bodies, including reflecting the work of the MSF
in Bellcore's Generic Requirements process for voice over packet
networks."

The initial working groups proposed by the MSF include
Architecture, Switch Control, and Voice. The founding members have
proposed provisional Implementation Agreements for the Architecture
and the Virtual Switch Interface (VSI) protocol for Switch Control.
The MSF endorses and is contributing to the IETF activity to
standardize the Media Gateway Control Protocol (MGCP) for supporting
Voice over

Internet Protocol (VoIP) and Voice over Asynchronous Transfer Mode
(VoATM) services. Additional working groups will be created by the
forum's membership as necessary.

"Our goal is to speed the arrival of an open switching
platform that will enable us to deliver new and better services at a
lower cost to our customers," said Fred Briggs, Chief Technology
Officer of MCI WorldCom. "The MSF is an important step toward
this goal and our strategy to develop next generation networks for
access aggregation, enhanced quality of service features, and to
separate network intelligence from switching and routing."

For information about Multiservice Switching Forum membership,
please contact the MSF office at
info@msforum.org

, or (510) 608-3990. Additional information on MSF can be found at
www.msforum.org

.

About Bellcore

Bellcore, an SAIC company, is a leading provider of communications
software, engineering, consulting and training services based on
world-class research. Bellcore creates business solutions that make
information technology work for telecommunications carriers,
businesses and governments worldwide. More information about
Bellcore's products and services is available on Bellcore's
web site at
www.bellcore.com

.

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

.

About MCI WorldCom

MCI WorldCom (NASDAQ: WCOM) is a global communications company with
revenue of more than $30 billion and established operations in over
65 countries encompassing the Americas, Europe and the Asia-Pacific
regions. MCI WorldCom is a premier provider of facilities-based and
fully integrated local, long distance, nternational and Internet
services. MCI WorldCom's global networks, including its
state-of-the-art pan-European network and transoceanic cable systems,
provide end-to-end high-capacity connectivity to more than 38,000
buildings worldwide. For more information on MCI WorldCom, visit the
World Wide Web at www.mciworldcom.com or
www.wcom.com

.

About Other MSF Founding Companies

AT&T: www.att.com, Alcatel: www.alcatel.com, Ascend
Communications: www.ascend.com, British Telecom: www.bt.com, Fujitsu
Network Communications: www.fnc.fujitsu.com, Lucent Technologies:
www.lucent.com, Nortel Networks: www.nortel.com, Siemens
www.icn.siemens.com, Telecom Italia: www.telecomitalia.it, Telia AB:
www.telia.se, US West: www.uswest.com.

About Multiservice Switching Forum

The Multiservice Switching Forum is an open membership organization
committed to developing and promoting implementation agreements for
ATM-capable multiservice switching systems. Additional information on
MSF can be found at
www.msforum.org

.