INTERCONNECTS

Foundry Networks, Inc. a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today added new 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10-GbE) switch models to its award-winning family of FastIron(R) Edge Layer 2/3 Ethernet switches (FES). The new Foundry FES X-series switches extend the performance of 10-Gigabit Ethernet to the network edge at a cost and ease of deployment that will enable broad adoption of 10-Gigabit Ethernet in enterprise and service provider networks. Consistent with the FES family of switches, the new FES X-series delivers an optimized suite of Layer 2/Base Layer 3 switching, full Layer 3 routing and sFlow traffic monitoring in a compact form-factor with support for hot-swappable redundant power supplies. The introduction of Foundry's FES X-series further extends the company's 10-GbE market leadership and expands its broad 10-GbE product portfolio which includes the BigIron(R), FastIron and NetIron(R) 10-GbE modular switches. Foundry will demonstrate its new FES X-series products at the CeBIT tradeshow, which opens this week in Hannover, Germany. Starting at a base price of $5,495 (U.S. list) and expandable to include up to two 10-GbE ports at $3,250 per port, Foundry's FES X-series switches establish the industry's leading price-performance value for Gigabit and 10-Gigabit Ethernet networking. The FastIron Edge X-series switches are available in two base configurations, the FES X424 and the FES X448. Hardware feature highlights include: -- 24 or 48 10/100/1000 Mbps RJ-45 copper (1000Base-T) ports -- 4 1-GbE Fiber (1000Base-X) ports with small form-factor transceivers (SFP) -- Front-accessible data ports and status indicators -- Hot swappable redundant, load-sharing AC power supplies Hardware options: -- 1-port or 2-port 10GBase-X modules with support for XFP small form-factor hot-pluggable transceiver -- SX, LX, CWDM and LHA 1-GbE optical transceivers -- SR and LR 10-GbE XFP optical transceivers Proven IronWare(TM) Layer 2/3 Switching Intelligence Foundry's FastIron Edge X424 and X448 switches deliver an optimized set of Layer 2 and Layer 3 services based on the company's time-tested, field-proven IronWare networking software. The FES X-Series provides a rich set of standards-based Layer 2 switching and Base Layer 3 routing features, including GVRP, Subnet, VLAN Groups, Per-VLAN Spanning Tree and Single-Instance Spanning Tree. In addition, the FES X-Series switches are upgradeable to full Layer 3 routing, making them the most versatile edge switches on the market today. IronShield(TM) Security -- Complete Network Protection Foundry's FES X424 and X448 switches are designed to deliver ironclad network security for defense against increasingly frequent and sophisticated security threats. Foundry IronShield security features, including extensive Layer 2/3 ACL support, MAC Address Locking, MAC Filtering, AAA, Radius, TACACS/TACACS+ and 802.1x Port-based Authentication, are designed to harden networks against unwanted intrusions and security threats. With the rich IronShield Security features, the X-series switches provide a compelling and secure solution for switched Gigabit Ethernet applications. These features will protect against denial of service (DoS) attacks. Secure switch operations and network management is provided by support for authenticated operator access, SNMPv3 and SSH. Accelerating Demand for Gigabit Performance at the Network Edge The new switches deliver wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) aggregation and 10-GbE uplink connectivity. Built with four "combo" SFP/Copper Gigabit Ethernet uplink ports as well as expansion slots for up to two 10-GbE uplink ports, the X-Series switches provide a powerful, flexible and cost-effective solution for delivering wire-speed GbE and 10-GbE performance across the enterprise. The 1-GbE and 10-GbE uplinks can be aggregated to deliver increased uplink bandwidth. Foundry's FES X-series switches also support jumbo frame sizes over 9,200 bytes. Jumbo frames are used to improve application throughput in cluster, storage and high-performance computing environments. Resilient and High Availability Foundry's X-Series switches provide resilient networking including support for IEEE 802.1w Rapid Spanning Tree Protocol, IEEE 802.3ad dynamic link aggregation and Foundry Network's Metro Ring Protocol (MRP). These protocols support sub-second service protection in the event of a hardware or facility outage. For added network resilience, the X-Series switches can be dual-homed to redundant backbone switches and routers using Foundry Network's Virtual Switch Redundancy Protocol (VSRP) or the IETF standard, Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP). Wire-Speed Per-Flow Traffic Monitoring Foundry's X-Series switches support sFlow data collection on every switch port. sFlow is an IETF specification for monitoring per flow traffic statistics. sFlow is supported on all Foundry Networks Layer 2/3 switches and routers providing a powerful tool for network-wide traffic monitoring. sFlow-based per flow statistics are used for a number of important applications including service billing, network engineering, fault-monitoring, trouble-shooting and network surveillance. Flexible Solutions from Enterprise Edge to Service Provider Metro Backbone By combining high-density Gigabit Ethernet distribution and aggregation into a single switch, Foundry's X-series switches collapse distribution and aggregation into a single edge solution, thereby reducing equipment and operations costs. With support for 10/100/1000 Mpbs Ethernet speeds, the X-Series is an ideal solution for migrating users to Gigabit Ethernet. This architecture is also ideal for data centers in which high-performance applications including cluster computing, server farms and storage networks require cost-effective wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet/10Gigabit Ethernet networking. The X-Series switches also provide a powerful solution for delivering Gigabit Ethernet services in metropolitan networking environments. Metropolitan service providers, municipalities, universities and utilities can take advantage of the hardened compact design and low cost to build out their Gigabit Ethernet infrastructure to deliver true, wire-speed Gigabit Ethernet services to their business users. The X-series feature a number of self-healing capabilities that support sub-second service protection in event of a network fault. In particular, Foundry Networks Metro Ring Protocol and Virtual Switch Redundancy Protocol are optimized for Metro service access and Metro backbone ring topologies and are supported on all Foundry edge and backbone switches, providing a highly available end-to-end solution for metro network deployments. "The growing performance and speed requirements of servers with embedded Gigabit over Copper connectivity and new converged applications will benefit from 10-GbE's movement out of the data center to the edge of the network," said Zeus Kerravala, vice president of Network Infrastructure for the Yankee Group. "Availability of 10 Gig Ethernet connectivity from the core to the edge of the network will eliminate bottlenecks and allow organizations to carry storage, voice, video and other business-critical application traffic on a consistent high-speed network with simplified management." "With this announcement, we are setting a new industry standard for 10GbE price/performance, we are first to market with a low-cost 10GbE edge switch family and first with hot-pluggable small form factor XFP optics," said Bobby Johnson, president and CEO of Foundry Networks. "We have the industry's most comprehensive and versatile 10GbE product suite. This announcement signals our continued commitment to maintaining our leadership in this market and our commitment to providing customers with affordable, intelligent and complete 1-GbE and 10-GbE networking solutions." Pricing and Availability FastIron Edge X424 * U.S. List Price: $5,495 * Available April 2004 FastIron Edge X448 * U.S. List Price: $7,995 * Available June 2004 Optional 10-GbE XFP modules * U.S. List Price: $ 4,495 for 1-port module and $6,495 for 2-port module * Available April 2004