Terabit Platforms offer 10 Gigabit Ethernet density.
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Press Release Summary:
BigIron® MG8(TM) backbone switch and NetIron® 40G(TM) metro router incorporate Terabit architecture, which supports more than 1 Terabit of switching in every system and leverages fourth generation Terathon(TM) ASIC chipset. Both deliver wire-speed performance, Layer 2/3 switching, and routing capabilities. Terathon ASIC packs more than 80 million transistors utilizing 0.18-micron silicon technology and delivers 1.28 Terabits of system switching capacity.
Original Press Release:
Foundry Networks Announces New Terabit Capacity Architecture and Creates New Enterprise LAN Switch Along with New Router for Metro Providers and Internet Service Providers
Next Generation Terabit Platforms Offer Industry-leading 10-Gigabit Ethernet Density, Pricing and Performance in a One-Third Rack-Sized System
San Jose, CA -- April 28, 2003 - Foundry Networks®, Inc. (Nasdaq: FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced its new Terabit architecture to meet the current and future high performance bandwidth needs of enterprises, Metro providers, and Internet service provider networks. The new architecture supports more than a Terabit of switching in every system and leverages Foundry's fourth generation Terathon(TM) ASIC chipset. The first two platforms using the new architecture, the BigIron® MG8(TM) backbone switch and NetIron® 40G(TM) metro router, are capable of delivering wire-speed performance, sophisticated Layer 2/3 switching and routing capabilities, ultra high reliability and industry leading Gigabit Ethernet and 10-Gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) density.
"The role of Ethernet as the transport protocol of choice for enterprise networks, and increasingly for service provider networks, has been cemented," said Chris Kozup, Program Director at META Group. "10 Gigabit Ethernet is a natural extension of existing Ethernet technologies and will provide a logical migration path over the next several years as density requirements for Gigabit Ethernet increase and enterprises and service providers require greater aggregation capabilities."
The new Terathon ASIC has a number of industry breakthroughs to support best in class high performance switching and routing:
x Packs more than 80 Million transistors utilizing 0.18 micron silicon technology
x Delivers 1.28 Terabits of system switching capacity
x Enables 160 Gbps of switching capacity per line card and future proof, true 40 Gig ready slots - 40 Gbps full duplex (80 Gbps total) backplane access per slot
x High-speed, low latency cross-point architecture with port-to-port switching latency less than 10 microseconds
x Wire-speed non-blocking architecture to every slot and port
Foundry's new architecture offers built-in hardware programmability to help protect customer network investments and offers an industry-leading 40-Gigabit full-duplex capacity per slot, allowing for higher density modules and a path to 40 Gigabit connections in the future. This Terabit capacity architecture offers high speed multi-layer switching capability and wire-speed network traffic monitoring capability based on sFlow(TM) (RFC3176). One of the new platforms, the BigIron MG8, will be demonstrated at N+l Vegas 2003 (Booth 5749) showing wire-speed Layer 2/3 switching for 32 individual 10GbE ports.
Foundry's three-phase Terabit capacity switching and routing product strategy involves:
x Phase 1: Deliver the next-generation high density 10-Gigabit Ethernet switch for performance oriented Enterprises - the BigIron MG8 switch. The BigIron MG8 switch is a high performance, ultra-low latency, high density and feature-rich 10GbE Layer 3 enterprise backbone switch purpose-built for bandwidth intensive enterprise networks to support business and research applications including high bandwidth campus backbone, data center aggregation, cluster and grid computing, converged (voice, video, image and data) communications, storage networking, financial transactions, as well as government, healthcare and university super-computing research projects.
x Phase 2: Deliver a purpose-built service provider product based on the Terathon ASIC the NetIron 40G router. The NetIron 40G router is purpose-built for Metro Providers and Internet service provider networks to deliver the industry's best 10-Gigabit Ethernet density, scalability and performance making it an ideal solution for Internet exchange backbones, super computing networks, advanced research and education networks as well as the lnternet-2 network.
x Phase 3: Offer new industry-leading Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet modules with high port-count densities in Foundry Networks' new Terabit architecture for the Enterprise LAN, MAN and WAN to accelerate the adoption of Gigabit Ethernet in all areas including server farms, cluster computing and select desktop applications. Two key factors continue to drive increased deployment of Gigabit Ethernet: the decreasing cost of NICs and switched Ethernet ports; and the second is the widescale deployment of standards-based 10GbE.
The new Foundry Terathon ASIC architecture addresses the growing backbone bandwidth needs of enterprises and service providers as 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology becomes mainstream. The migration to Gigabit Ethernet is due to several industry trends, primarily the accelerating growth of bandwidth intensive applications, such as converged communications and broadband services, and the continued affordability of Gigabit Ethernet connections. Foundry's new architecture, used at the heart of both the BigIron MG8 switch and NetIron 40G router, extends Foundry's leadership in high performance networking and provide seamless end-to-end product portfolios for enterprise and service provider markets.
"As the market share leader of Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching and routing, customers have high expectations and confidence in our products," said Bobby Johnson, President and CEO of Foundry Networks. "Our high performance 10 Gigabit Ethernet strategy continues to confirm our commitment to technology excellence, innovation and customer satisfaction. The new 10-Gigabit Ethernet products are complementary to our existing enterprise and service provider product lines and offer revolutionary extensions to our customers' performance needs," added Johnson.
About Foundry Networks
Foundry Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing and Web traffic management solutions including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 Backbone switches, Layer 4 - 7 Web switches and Metro Routers. Foundry's 5,800 customers include the world's premier ISPs, Metro service providers, and enterprises including e-commerce sites, universities, entertainment, health and wellness, government, financial, and manufacturing companies. Some of these customers include: AOL, EarthLink, China Telecom, MSN, Verio, Cable & Wireless, Yahoo!, Incyte Genomics, Deutsche Bank, The University of Washington, University of Miami, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) of France, The British Library, U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy, NASA and the National Space Development Agency of Japan. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBOLAN or visit www.foundrynetworks.com.
Foundry Networks, Terathon, BigIron, NetIron and the 'Iron' family of marks, are trademarks or registered trademarks of Foundry Networks, Inc. in United States and other countries. All others are trademarks of their respective owners. sFlow is a trademark of InMon Corporation.
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