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Force10 Networks today announced that AlwaysOn, an open media network, has named it to the AO 100 Top Private Companies for the innovation behind the industry-leading TeraScale E-Series family of switch/routers. Representing the most innovative, disruptive and exciting technology companies in the market, the AO 100 Top Private Companies demonstrate a strong track record, robust business model, leading technology, rapid customer adoption and significant market potential. "This award reflects the hard work and dedication of the Force10 team at the product, customer and investor levels that has successfully brought to market a next-generation switch/router with unmatched density and resiliency," said Andrew Feldman, vice president of marketing at Force10 Networks. "As we further expand our customer base, we will continue our unparalleled history of market-leading innovation that captures the attention of the industry." The 100 most innovative and successful private companies were selected from more than 1,000 entries from venture investors, investment bankers, leading entrepreneurs and industry insiders. Force10 was one of only six networking hardware vendors named as a top private company for 2005 and was recognized for its excellence in innovation, market potential, customer adoption, media recognition and investor value creation. Over the last year, Force10 has been recognized throughout the industry for its innovation and industry-leading TeraScale E-Series. Most recently, the TeraScale E300 won eWEEK's Excellence Award for networking infrastructure. Additionally, the Force10 TeraScale E1200 was named enterprise switching and routing product of the year by searchnetworking.com. Industry analyst group Gartner also recognized Force10, naming it as a visionary in its 2004 Global Campus LAN Magic Quadrant. Force10 is the first company added to the quadrant in several years and the only private company included in the report. The Force10 TeraScale E-Series delivers unmatched density, scalability and resiliency to lower total cost of network ownership and provides a new level of investment protection far beyond the traditional five to seven year product lifecycle. With built-in redundancy and leading density, the TeraScale E-Series ensures predictable performance regardless of traffic conditions.