EUGENE—San Jose, Calif.-based network equipment manufacturer Cisco Systems, Inc., has signed a five-year lease for 6,820 square feet of space in the Riverfront Research Park, adjacent to the University of Oregon campus.

The office space, located at 1600 Millrace Dr., is currently being remodeled to meet Cisco's needs for approximately 24 employees. Construction activities are expected to be completed by early April.

"This long-term commitment on Cisco's part should open the door for even strengthened collaborations," says Joanne Hugi, UO campus computing director.

The university anticipates that having Cisco in the research park will result in educational opportunities for UO Computer and Information Science students.

Hugi says she expects that, over time, internship and employment opportunities will likely develop at Cisco for top students. In addition, continuing close relationships between UO networking operations and Cisco, in such areas as IP multicast technology (an efficient way to distribute multimedia broadcasts over the Internet), are also likely to grow, she says.

According to Hugi, credit for attracting Cisco to Eugene and the UO goes to Dave Meyer, who has a joint appointment as UO director of advanced network technology and is a senior network engineer with Cisco.

"The Riverfront Research Park provides opportunities for cooperative interactions between industry and the University of Oregon, promotes 'clean growth' by attracting non-polluting enterprises, and diversifies and strengthens the economic base of our community," says Rich Linton, UO vice provost for research, who oversees the university's research park operations. "Under these criteria, Cisco is a great addition as the world leader in the commercial development of networking systems for the Internet."

The Riverfront Research Park project is a cooperative effort of the University of Oregon and private developers to build a university-related research park on a state-owned site adjacent to the university campus on the south bank of the Willamette River. The 67-acre park provides a master-planned setting for approximately one million square feet of development, where knowledge-based businesses and organizations can start and grow in close proximity to and collaborative association with the sizeable research capabilities of the university.

–30–

#G-7618/Local,OrBus