OIL & GAS

Force10 Networks today announced that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) in Asheville, N.C., the world's largest archive of weather data, has deployed the Force10 TeraScale E-Series with the industry-leading 90-port Gigabit Ethernet line cards to add an unprecedented level of scalability to its high performance data center. Force10 introduced its 90-port line card today, setting a new industry benchmark by increasing the density of the TeraScale E-Series to 1,260 Gigabit Ethernet ports, nearly three times the port density of competitive solutions. "We process more than 224 gigabytes of new information on a daily basis and need the reliable performance and scalability of the TeraScale E-Series to ensure our network operates as a strategic asset," said Preston Carter, senior network engineer at the National Climatic Data Center. "With 90 Gigabit Ethernet ports on each line card, the TeraScale E-Series brings years of scalability to our network without the complexities or limitations of multiple systems" The Force10 TeraScale E600 is at the foundation of the NCDC's data center, which archives records dating back 150, years and connects its Oracle database, advanced applications and high speed tape storage. With unmatched density and resiliency, the TeraScale E-Series provides the predictable performance and scalability the NCDC requires to provide reliable global weather data. "With the TeraScale E-Series, Force10 introduced a platform that fundamentally altered the economics of networking," said Andrew Feldman, vice president of marketing at Force10 Networks. "Today, with the 90-port Gigabit Ethernet card, high performance networking environments like the NCDC can dramatically increase return on their investment and build in a massive amount of scalability while simplifying their network." With support for 90 ports of Gigabit Ethernet on a single line card, Force10 is building a level of scalability that extends the lifecycle of the TeraScale E-Series to ten or more years. By processing more traffic on a single line card, network operators can save additional slots in the TeraScale E-Series to accommodate future growth, providing long term investment protection. The Force10 TeraScale E-Series combines that density with the industry's highest level of resiliency to guarantee the NCDC always has access to its data records. Last September, Force10 set a new industry standard for density, resiliency and performance with the TeraScale E-Series, which can process one billion packets per second. The NCDC archives 150 years of data while 224 gigabytes of new information, the equivalent of 72 million pages, is added each day. As part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the NCDC archives data from the National Weather Service, military services, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Coast Guard and voluntary observers.