Foundry Networks today announced that the company's latest next-generation Layer 2/3 switch, the BigIron RX-32, has been selected by RIKEN, Japan's Institute of Physical and Chemical Research, to support the growing network capacity, performance and reliability demands needed to carry out high-level experimental and research work in a wide range of fields, including physics, chemistry, medical science, biology, and engineering, covering the entire range from basic research to practical application. As Japan's only comprehensive research institute in the natural sciences, RIKEN is dedicated to advancing science and technology. The institute utilizes High Performance Computing (HPC), in areas such as life sciences and high energy physics, with the objective of attaining world-class, effective computational performance designed to improve international competitiveness while satisfying the needs of researchers. At RIKEN's Wako Institute, Dr. Koji Kaya, the director of Wako Institute, heads the Research and Development Group for Next-generation Integrated Living Matter Simulation endorsed by the Research and Development Program for Next-generation Computational Research. Foundry's(tm) BigIron RX-32 is used for this research as the basic switch connecting more than 1000 servers within the High Density Packaging Lower Power PC Server system with gigabit Ethernet (GbE), providing RIKEN with a dense, stable and high-performing network environment. The BigIron RX-32 is expected to scale efficiently with further increases in the network traffic flow and address cooling and power efficiency problems anticipated within an HPC environment. To meet the rising demand for volume and performance within computing environments such as HPCs, the BigIron RX-32 boasts 1,536 GbE ports or 128 10-gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) ports and approximately 2.2 billion packets per second (Bpps) of throughput. It offers the industry's greatest performance per rack unit (RU) and is the most powerful Ethernet switch with the lowest total cost of ownership (TCO) available in its class. "We are pleased that RIKEN has selected Foundry's BigIron RX-32 for its core switch to support their development of application programs for the Next-generation Integrated Living Matter Simulation," said Ken Cheng, vice president and general manager, High-End and Service Provider Systems Business Unit, Foundry Networks. "The BigIron marks a significant milestone for the networking industry by delivering one of the highest performing and highest density full-featured switches on the market today. The BigIron RX-32 grants additional value to customers by enabling a new framework of network design that provides a superior cost model."