INTERCONNECTS

ATLANTA -- Foundry Networks, Inc., a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, was honored at SUPERCOMM's 6th Annual SUPERQuest awards ceremony, held June 3 at the Georgia World Congress Center. Foundry's new high-performance, Terabit-capacity BigIron(R) MG8 backbone 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) switch was named the "Most Promising Network Technology" in the Network Transport Infrastructure Systems and Services category. Foundry is demonstrating another member of its new Terabit-capacity, Terathon(TM)-ASIC-based switching and routing architecture, the NetIron(R) 40G metro router, here at SUPERCOMM booth 11529 this week. SUPERQuest awards honor the best-built networks and most promising new technologies among 300 SUPERCOMM exhibitors and their customers worldwide. SUPERQuest award recipients are selected as the best in delivering exceptional network design, supporting technologies and products across all facets of the communications infrastructure industry. Winners are chosen by a panel of judges which include industry-leading technology press, analysts and other experts. According to Jack Chalden, general manager of SUPERCOMM, "The strength and resiliency of this industry is reflected in the SUPERQuest award winners. These forward-thinking, innovative companies give promise to the continuing growth and development of this industry and show us exactly where we should be headed in the future." The BigIron MG8 switch is optimized for high-density Gigabit Ethernet and 10GbE deployments including high speed enterprise communication backbones, converged campus networks, supercomputing clusters, grid computing and storage networks. Foundry's BigIron MG8 switch offers an industry-leading 1.28 Terabits of total non-blocking switching capacity and wire-speed forwarding in all thirty-two 10GbE ports for a total of up to 480 million packets per second of Layer 2/3 switching performance per system. The system's compact form factor allows enterprises to fit three BigIron MG8 systems in a standard seven-foot rack to deliver 96 individual 10GbE ports, at an industry-leading price per port. With the industry's best wire-speed 10GbE density, the BigIron MG8 switch is the 10-Gigabit switch of choice for enterprises requiring high-speed switching backbones to support mission-critical applications. "BigIron MG8 continues Foundry's time-tested innovation as the clear leader in switching capacity, 10GbE density and price/performance. The SUPERQuest award validates this leadership on behalf of our more than 100 10GbE customers worldwide," said Ken Cheng, vice president and general manager of the Enterprise Business Unit at Foundry Networks. "When we introduced the BigIron MG8 switch just over a month ago, our global customer base told us it would be a revolutionary product. We are delighted to see the BigIron MG8 switch recognized at SUPERCOMM for being the most promising technology of its class."