CISCO TAKES MINORITY EQUITY STAKE IN PRECEPT SOFTWARE, WILL RESELL
PRECEPT'S MULTIMEDIA NETWORKING PRODUCTS

PALO ALTO, Calif., May 1, 1996 -- Cisco Systems and Precept Software have
signed an agreement under which Cisco will make a minority equity
investment in Precept and will resell Precept's standards-based multimedia
networking software products. The companies also intend to pursue
additional development work to boost multimedia deployment over existing
networks.

Beginning in the third quarter of 1996, Cisco will resell the Precept
product family, which includes FlashWare, a client-server "middleware"
product that allows video and audio to run on existing IP packet- switched
networks; and IP/TV, a client-server application that multicasts live or
prerecorded video and audio over IP networks.

The products are based on key industry-standard multimedia-enabling
technologies, including the Real-Time Transport Protocol (RTP), a
mechanism for carrying video and audio over IP networks; and the Resource
Reservation Protocol (RSVP), which assigns priorities to various types of
network traffic' critical capability in bandwidth- intensive multimedia
applications such as videoconferencing. FlashWare and IP/TV are compatible
with software used on the MBONE, the portion of the Internet that supports
real-time multimedia.

RSVP support will also be available as part of the Cisco Internetwork
Operating System (Cisco IOS) in the third quarter. Cisco IOS software
ensures robust, reliable internetworks by supporting the multimedia
requirements of both LAN and WAN protocols, optimizing WAN services and
controlling intranetwork access. The combination of Precept FlashWare,
IP/TV, Cisco's server and client software and Cisco IOS software will
provide customers with a unique and compelling multimedia solution for
Windows-based TCP/IP clients, without regard to the LAN technology.

In addition to the reseller arrangement and equity investment, the two
companies will collaborate on developing future standards-based multicast
protocols, and multicast and multimedia management tools. Multicast is a
technique which conserves bandwidth by sending data simultaneously to a
designated group of intended recipients rather than to all users on the
network (broadcast) or serially to individual users (unicast).

Ed Kozel, Cisco's chief technical officer, said, "Cisco's strategy is to
extend multimedia Internet infrastructure all the way to the desktop. Our
users are looking for key multimedia standards, such as IP multicast and
RSVP, which we have already implemented in our Cisco IOS software. Our
agreement with Precept delivers these multimedia software features to the
end user by filling in the middleware and client parts of the equation. As
we begin to resell the Precept software in conjunction with our suite of
client and network software, users can come to Cisco for simple, complete,
standards-based solutions in multimedia internetworking. Cisco and Precept
both are technical leaders in this area, and we greatly look forward to
working together to develop products and services in this emerging
market."

Judy Estrin, Precept's president and CEO, said, "Cisco has been a pioneer
in introducing multimedia features into internetworking, and many of its
corporate and Internet service provider customers are serious about
building multimedia into their networks. As a startup company in an
emerging market, we will gain tremendous value from this relationship,
through access to a huge worldwide direct sales channel that sells to
exactly the kinds of customers for which our products are best suited. The
agreement also guarantees that customers can support their multimedia
applications with end-node and infrastructure products that are fully
compatible and optimized to work together."

Precept's FlashWare uses industry standards to transport real-time,
synchronized multimedia data streams over packet-switched networks. IP/TV
runs on top of FlashWare, delivering full-motion video in a PC window for
such applications as corporate communications, Internet TV broadcasting,
video library access, manufacturing process monitoring and surveillance
systems.

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) is the leading global supplier of
internetworking solutions for corporate intranets and the global Internet.
Cisco's products, including routers, LAN and ATM switches, dial-up access
servers and network management software, are integrated by the Cisco IOS
software to link geographically dispersed LANs, WANs and IBM networks.
Company news and product/service information are available at World Wide
Web site http://www.cisco.com. Cisco is headquartered in San Jose, Calif.

Precept Software, Inc., was formed in March 1995 to develop and market
standards-based networking software that addresses the emerging demand for
local- and wide-area networking of real-time multimedia information. The
privately held company has raised $6.4 million in two rounds of venture
financing from Weiss Peck & Greer Venture Capital, Foundation Capital,
Kleiner Perkins, Morgan Stanley and Sequoia Capital, and a group of
private investors. Precept's World Wide Web address is
http://www.precept.com.
 
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