NETWORKS

Innovative BlackDiamond Platform Recognized as 'Technology Product of the Year' an Unprecedented Three Times Since 2004: Extreme Networks modular switching solutions, the BlackDiamond 10K and BlackDiamond 8800, received high recognition for real-world technology innovation having been named "InfoWorld's 2007 Technology of the Year." This is the third annual award since 2004 given to the BlackDiamond platform, featuring the innovative ExtremeXOS modular operating system and wire-speed 10 Gigabit Ethernet performance. The high-performance BlackDiamond 10K and 8800 switches were granted Technology Product of the Year for networking for their overall performance, reliability and distinctive attributes, including high availability through software and hardware, fast 10 Gigabit switching performance, and its comprehensiveness and ease-of-management. "InfoWorld takes industry-leading solutions such as our BlackDiamond switch and performs meaningful analysis for enterprise users, evaluating how the solution will perform within real-world, converged enterprise environments while also delivering insightful management and meaningful infrastructure control," said Paul Hooper, vice president of marketing for Extreme Networks. "The BlackDiamond, having once again been named 'Technology of the Year,' further reinforces how our solutions and innovative software platform, ExtremeXOS, truly delivers value and results for customers. In addition, the BlackDiamond played a role in the winning entry for the Super Computing Bandwidth Challenge at S|C 2006 is significant recognition and praise." This year's award is a result of a 2006 Ethernet switch shootout performed at InfoWorld's University of Hawaii Advanced Network Computing Lab (ANCL), where veteran editors aimed to demonstrate how today's 10 Gigabit LAN switching solutions have evolved to support the management of converged applications, including voice, video and data, on a production data network. Upon the outcome of the 10 Gigabit convergence shootout, the editors commented: -- "BlackDiamond (switches) can function in any high-performance switching environment, from the carrier-class situations to corporate datacenters, and you'll find specific optimizing features for each." -- "Extreme Networks machines took everything our Spirent TestCenters tossed at them with a smile. The fun stuff didn't start until we began our optional testing. First, Extreme Networks insisted on doing some fail-over testing, dropping network links in the midst of traffic transmissions with nary a bit escaping." -- "Setting up an advanced switching topology in what amounts to a single day is a solid achievement for any platform but Extreme Networks really nailed it. These products clicked together like well-oiled machines -- so well that we were completely through our baseline testing on the very first day." This honor adds to Extreme Networks history of receiving broad recognition from industry experts for its family of Ethernet switching solutions. Extreme Networks is the only vendor to win the prestigious InterOp "Best of Show" award back-to-back for five years.