INTERCONNECTS

ATLANTA, -- Foundry Networks, Inc., a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, and Spirent Communications, a worldwide provider of integrated performance analysis and service assurance systems for next-generation network technologies, today announced the two companies are demonstrating the largest 10-Gigabit metro Ethernet (10GbE) network (booth 11529) ever shown at SUPERCOMM, the U.S.' premier communications infrastructure conference, taking place in Atlanta this week. The demonstration showcases Foundry's recently announced NetIron(R) 40G metro router and Spirent's award-winning SmartBits TeraMetrics 10GbE Test System. The live demonstration achieves a routing capacity of 1.28 terabits and 480 million packets per second in one-third rack sized system. "With continuous rapid growth of Internet traffic, we are ready to migrate to the next generation 10-Gigabit-Ethernet metro routing product which meets our stringent reliability, performance, scalability and total-cost-of-ownership requirements," said Job Witteman, CEO of The Amsterdam Internet Exchange (AMS-IX). "We will be the first on the European mainland to offer our 157 members a single peering connection at 10-Gigabit-Ethernet, reducing the costs of multiple connections in a significant way. The NetIron 40G 10-Gigabit-Ethernet router, with its Terabit switching capacity, Internet-grade scalability and rich feature set, will allow us to take our services to the next level and meet the capacity needs of our members for the next few years." Foundry now serves more than 150 10GbE customers worldwide including service providers and leading Internet peering points, healthcare, education and government institutions. "Service providers and metro area network operators are increasing their reliance on optically-enabled Ethernet network transport for delivering new high-performance services to their customers," said Chandra Kopparapu, vice president and general manager of the Service Provider business unit at Foundry Networks. "This 10GbE Ethernet router demonstration shows a new industry benchmark and reaffirms our commitment to offering the highest-performance, industry-standard 10GbE products for metro and service provider customers." The NetIron 40G is a metro and Internet service provider router, offering up to four Terabits of switching capacity and 1.5 billion packets per second of routing performance per seven foot rack -- nearly twice the capability of other announced platforms -- at an industry-leading price per 10GbE port. The NetIron 40G router is designed for NEBS Level 3 compliance and packs the industry's highest Gigabit Ethernet and 10GbE density -- up to 256 Gigabit Ethernet ports and 32 10GbE ports in a single 13 rack unit high system; and 768 Gigabit Ethernet ports and 96 10GbE ports per 7 foot rack. With the industry's best 10GbE density, performance and price, the NetIron 40G router is an ideal system for service providers in offering new revenue-generating 10GbE peering services to their customers. "Spirent and Foundry are collaborating again to demonstrate a new plateau for 10GbE speed and capacity," said Mark Fishburn, vice president of technical strategy at Spirent Communications. "Leveraging native Ethernet and IP topologies, 10GbE opens the door for unprecedented capacity, speed and distance for Ethernet-based networks. We were instrumental in developing this standard and seeing it through design, evaluation, even deployment, as shown by this demonstration of Foundry's NetIron 40G platform." Mr. Fishburn co-chairs the test and marketing committees for the Metro Ethernet Forum and has served as chairman of the 10GbE Alliance. Spirent Communications provides the first and only complete line of fully compliant 10GbE test and measurement products. Spirent's 10GbE test module was named "Technology of the Year" by Infoworld in 2002. Its 10GbE test solutions are the first scalable multi-port network performance analysis solutions that allow users to identify weaknesses in their networks or network products through rigorous performance tests of both new and legacy networking technologies. The demonstration features a NetIron 40G router loaded with 32 ports of 10GbE plus Spirent's Smartbits TeraMetrics 10 GbE Test Modules. Spirent's test software is used to generate traffic on all 32 ports at line rate. The configuration includes: -- Foundry NetIron 40G router with eight four-port 10GbE modules for a total of 32 ports of 10GbE in a single system -- Six Spirent SmartBits 6000B testers, configured with 16 XLW-3721A TeraMetrics 10GbE modules and 16 XLW-3720 SmartMetrics 10GbE modules to provide traffic generation capabilities