Cisco (CSCO) announced that Shanghai Telecom will expand on its Cisco Internet Protocol Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) by deploying the Cisco CRS-1 multichassis carrier routing system to meet the future growth demands of its business.

Shanghai Telecom is currently China's leading broadband service supplier with more than 1.7 million broadband users and a large number of Internet data center users. The non-voice business of Shanghai Telecom in the first half of 2005 accounted for 40% of its total business, surpassing in advance its goal of reaching 35% by 2007.

This is the first telecommunications carrier in China to deploy the Cisco CRS-1 multichassis carrier routing system.

Through the deployment of the Cisco CRS-1, the current network nodes for Shanghai Telecom's IP network gateway will be collapsed into super nodes with increased uplink and downlink bandwidth. The Cisco CRS-1 adopted by Shanghai Telecom can be scaled up to 72 line-card shelves, totaling 1,152 slots, providing room for system expansion to satisfy the company's expected needs for the next 10 to 15 years.

Since 2001, Cisco has been providing equipment, technology and service support for the construction and expansion of Shanghai Telecom's high speed IP network. Through years of development, Shanghai Telecom IP network has been able to offer an increasingly advanced array of IP-based services and network connections to ChinaNet, China Telecom's national Internet network. To expand its data business and meet growing service and capacity needs, China Telecom is continuing its migration toward an entirely IP-based infrastructure and multiservice, providing sound network support for IP NGN transport, third-generation (3G) wireless, and video multicast businesses.