Korea Thrunet to deploy first IP-based network for high-speed cable services

SEOUL, 29 March 2000 - Korea Thrunet Co. Ltd. (Nasdaq:KOREA), the country's leading provider of high-speed Internet services over cable, will deploy next-generation IP infrastructure using technology and solutions provided by Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO).

The US$48 million contract follows Korea Thrunet's certification last month as a Cisco Powered Network (CPN), providing integrated voice, video and data traffic together with new broadband cable services and applications.

Korea Thrunet, which listed on NASDAQ last November, will utilize Cisco's latest IP equipment to aggressively expand its network infrastructure as it seeks to boost its nationwide cable subscriber base. The extension supports a recent Korean government initiative to boost usage of high-speed Internet services and next-generation IP applications.

Capacity
A key aspect of the Thrunet network expansion revolves around increasing capacity at its cable TV interface. Cisco will supply nearly 500 Cisco uBR7246 Universal Broadband Routers as head-end equipment on the expanded network, each interfacing with thousands of cable modems installed at businesses and homes within particular districts.

Korea Thrunet will also expand its nationwide network backbone to accommodate future bandwidth requirements by deploying ten additional Cisco 12000 GSRs that link key data centers across the country. The 12000 series GSR is a premier routing platform that delivers scalable bandwidth and performance, and supports a breadth of network services through its robust Internet control plane and low-latency architecture.

Korea Thrunet has already deployed more than twenty Cisco 12000 GSRs on the backbone, which were installed in May 1999 as a part of the initial core network build-outs.

"Cisco was the only vendor that was capable of providing the products and services that met and exceeded Korea Thrunet's high quality and fast delivery expectations," said Mr. Kim Jong-Kil, Korea Thrunet's president and CEO. "The scalability of Cisco's solutions perfectly positions us to meet both current and future bandwidth requirements, especially as we ramp up to meet our year-end subscriber targets."

Cable
Subscribers to Korea Thrunet's service can expect access speeds up to 40- megabits per second (Mbps) downstream and 10 Mbps upstream via industry standard two way cable modems. Based on the Data-Over-Cable System Specification (DOCSIS), cable modems are compact, easy-to-install devices that can receive and transmit digital data over the same cable. DOCSIS also brings television broadcast transmissions into a cable TV subscriber's home.

IP (Internet Protocol) traffic terminating at the head-end is routed via the Cisco uBR7246 Universal Broadband Routers onto Korea Thrunet's nationwide optical backbone. In addition, Korea Thrunet is planning to deploy OC-192 backbone infrastructure during the second half of this year with DWDM (Dense Wavelength Division Multiplexing) equipment from Cisco.

The delivery of IP packets over an optical infrastructure means that Korea Thrunet can deploy high-speed network architectures at a fraction of the cost of traditional time-division multiplexing (TDM) networks.

Convergence
"The convergence of optical and internetworking technologies allows Korea Thrunet to build a high-speed multimedia network that is considerably cheaper and easier to operate than expensive TDM networks, and ensures future scalability to other profitable, new IP-based services," said Kevin Kennedy, senior vice president of Cisco's service provider line of business.

"Migration to the New World of integrated voice, video and data networks based on packet architectures is inevitable, and rapid adoption is a key competitive advantage that will distinguish the leaders."

In addition to cable and optical backbone components, Cisco will also be supplying more than 30 AS5300 dial-up access servers to Korea Thrunet. This follows the recent acquisition by Korea Thrunet of NOWCOM, one of Korea's largest Internet service providers.