Schools in Five Canadian Provinces Embrace New High-Tech Curriculum

Program Aims to Provide Students with Skills for the Information Age

TORONTO, ON - June 3, 1998 - In a national news conference today, educators and industry announced that school districts in five provinces agreed to add the Cisco Networking Academy program to their Fall 1998 curriculum. In all, 30 schools and approximately 1,200 students will participate in the first year of this program. The Cisco Networking Academy program is a new program to teach high school and college students to design, build and maintain computer networks and the Internet.

To kick-start the program, Cisco Systems is contributing curriculum, equipment and resources to help bridge the information gap. The investment has already begun in high schools, colleges and technical schools in five provinces - Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, New Brunswick and Ontario.

"The Toronto District School Board is pleased to add the Cisco Networking Academy program to our fall program," said Bill McIntosh, Director - Executive Council, Toronto District School Board. "The board is extremely happy with the program's curriculum. It imparts the transferable skills which will help our students find a fulfilling place for themselves in Canada's information economy."

"Thanks to the Cisco Networking Academy program, our school is being revitalized," said Libert Castillo, principal, George Harvey Collegiate Institute. "Our teachers are so enthusiastic about the program they are volunteering some of their summer vacation to learn the new curriculum. The Cisco Networking Academy program provides the kind of educational programs students are looking for today to help them get jobs and gain admission into advanced post secondary programs. George Harvey is now attracting kids from all over the city."

Teachers will be learning the curriculum at training centres already established in Canada. Centennial College in Toronto and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology in Calgary have been established as Area Training Academies.

"We are pleased to sponsor the training of those teachers who will be sacrificing part of their summer vacation to learn the curriculum," said Robert Lloyd, general manager, Cisco Systems Canada Co. "Cisco's employees will also be volunteering their knowledge and time supporting these teachers to get the program up and running. I am impressed with everyone's dedication to the program and our common goal of opening new opportunities to Canadian students."

Cisco provides course work for a complete range of basic through advanced networking concepts - from pulling cable, through such complex concepts as subnet masking rules and strategies.

The program uses Regional Academies as hubs, each of which supports a minimum of five Local Academies. These Regional Academies teach the teachers who oversee programs at the Local Academies under their jurisdiction. The Regional Academies funnel input to Cisco on topics such as individual school performance, curriculum quality and effectiveness, and student progress.

The format for the classes reflects the content: interactive lessons stored largely on the classroom's Cisco Web server. The Academy design also accommodates diverse learning styles. For those who learn by reading, text is available. More visual learners can focus on the course material's extensive graphics and QuickTime movies. To promote development of the personal skills that underpin successful careers, projects require students not only to resolve technical issues but also to successfully address network users' needs.

Local Academies receive mentoring and technical support from the Regional Academies and are backed by SMARTnetª services, a service and support program that provides round-the-clock access to assistance from Cisco's Technical Assistance Center (TAC) and the Cisco Connection Online (CCO) Web site, plus major software and maintenance releases, product documentation updates, and next-day delivery of replacement parts.

The Cisco Networking Academy program also addresses the need for network administrators within the schools themselves. As thousands of elementary and secondary schools have become "wired" in the last few years, principals across the country have scrambled to find people to build and maintain their new networks. While in the Cisco Networking Academy program, students fill their own school's networking needs and can be loaned out on projects to other schools within the district.

About Cisco Systems Canada Co.

Cisco Systems Inc. is a multinational corporation with more than $6 billion (U.S.) in annual revenues and more than 13,000 employees worldwide. Cisco Systems Canada Co. (formerly Cisco Systems Canada Ltd.) was established by Cisco Systems in 1990 and is the 12th largest IT company in Canada. Headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, the company has more than 140 employees in Canada with regional sales and services offices in Dartmouth, NS; Moncton, NB; Quebec City, PQ; Montreal, PQ; Ottawa, ON; London, ON; Winnipeg, MB; Calgary, AB; Edmonton, AB; and Vancouver, BC.

Cisco produces networking solutions for enterprise organizations, service providers and small/medium businesses. With 80 per cent of the backbone of the global Internet built with Cisco Systems, Cisco is empowering the Internet generation. Cisco also uses the Internet to conduct a substantial amount of its own business. Cisco provides more than 70 per cent of its customer support over the Internet and since August of 1996, the value of Cisco product orders handled over the Internet have surpassed the $1 billion (U. S.) mark. Additional information on the company and its products can be accessed on the Internet at http://www.cisco.com or /global/CA/.

Contact:

• Willa Black
  Cisco Systems Canada Co.
  416-306-7732
  Pager: 1-800-68-CISCO
  E-mail: wblack@cisco.com
• Gareth Pettigrew
  Strategic/Ampersand Inc.
  416-961-5595 ext. 428
  E-mail: gareth@stratamp.com