NetIron 40G Enhancements Deliver Wire-Speed Internet-Scale IP Forwarding,
Rapid Layer 3 Convergence, Hitless Failover, Strong Security, and Granular
Bandwidth Control in High Density 10-Gigabit Ethernet Service Delivery
Environment
SAN JOSE, Calif., March 15 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Foundry Networks(R),
Inc. (Nasdaq: FDRY) a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end
switching and routing, today announced software enhancements for the
NetIron(R) 40G (NI 40G), the company's Terabit-capacity 10-Gigabit Ethernet
(10-GbE) Services router. Purpose-built to deliver highly available and
tunable Gigabit and 10-Gigabit Ethernet and IP services and designed for NEBS
Level 3 compliance, the NetIron 40G is the highest performance Ethernet
Services router in its class, supporting up to 32 wire-speed 10-GbE ports and
320 wire-speed 1-Gigabit Ethernet ports in each 13 rack unit high system and
96 wire-speed 10-GbE ports and 960 wire-speed 1-Gigabit Ethernet ports per
7 foot rack. Foundry will demonstrate the NetIron 40G at the CeBIT tradeshow,
which opens this week in Hannover, Germany.
Service providers worldwide are planning and deploying competitive service
offerings to meet their subscribers' increasing demand for scalable and
reliable high-bandwidth Ethernet and IP services. The NetIron 40G Ethernet
Service router is designed for these network operators, providing a
high-performance, hardened solution for the delivery of scalable, highly
available and manageable Ethernet and IP services. The new features will
further enhance the NI40G's availability, resiliency, scalability and security
capabilities to meet the requirements of these emerging networks.
-- Non-stop packet forwarding with Hitless Management module Failover
(HMF) for Layer 2/3 switching and OS upgrades
-- Internet-scale, wire-speed Internet edge routing and accelerated route
convergence with Foundry Direct Routing (FDR)
-- End-to-end SLA enforcement with Advanced Bandwidth Management (ABM)
-- Secure and scalable network infrastructure with hardware-based
IronShield security and extensive ACL policies
Non-Stop Packet Forwarding with Hitless Management Module Failover
Service availability is a top priority for providers of high-bandwidth
point-to-point and multipoint Ethernet services. The NI 40G Hitless Management
module Failover (HMF) protects service level commitments by maintaining
traffic flow continuity in the event of a failover of the NI 40G's active
management module. With the introduction of HMF, the forwarding of switched
and routed user traffic will be maintained during and following a management
module failover or a system software upgrade.
Large Scale Internet Routing and Rapid Route Convergence
The ability to deliver predictable wire-speed routing and support for fast
route convergence can differentiate a premium service provider from its
competitors. Foundry Direct Routing supports the pre-populating of the
system's hardware forwarding engine with as many as 256,000 routes -- more
than twice the total number of Internet published routes. This capability in
combination with the NI 40G capacity of four million entries in its routing
information base will meet today's service provider requirements and
accommodate future traffic growth. The ability to pre-program the IP
forwarding engine at each interface module ensures wire-speed performance with
minimal delay for all application packet flows and rapid routing convergence
in the event of a network failure. FDR provides the routing scalability and
performance assurances required for premium Ethernet and IP services delivery.
Tunable Bandwidth Management for End-to-End SLA Enforcement
A key attribute of Ethernet is its scalability. In an Ethernet and IP
services network where Service Level Agreements define the provider's
commitment to the customer, it is important that the network infrastructure
provide the ability to regulate individual customer flows, ensure customer
separation, suppress Denial of Service attacks and maintain service
availability. The NI 40G's Advanced Bandwidth Management feature provides the
network operator with granular bandwidth management capabilities powered by
hardware-based policy engines that use extended access control lists (ACLs),
port, priority and VLAN information to create rate classes for subscriber
services. In metropolitan networks, ABM-enabled services can be extended
across the entire switched infrastructure providing an end-to-end solution for
scalable and fault-tolerant point-to-point and multipoint Ethernet service
delivery with bandwidth, performance and availability assurances.
Network Security Enhancements
Service availability and network security top the list of customers'
requirements for network services. Based on Foundry Networks IronShield(TM)
suite of security features, the NI 40G protects the network against denial of
service attacks (DOS) and unauthorized network and management access. These
capabilities include: enhanced ACL (40,000) support for packet filtering and
policy-based service management; IEEE 802.1x port authentication; rate
limiting for multicast and broadcast and unknown unicast; BGP-Guard that
protects BGP peering sessions between routers by preventing the redirection or
hijacking of control sessions; and SNMPv3, authenticated user access and SSHv2
for secure network management.
Designed for high-performance Ethernet and IP services delivery, Foundry's
NetIron 40G provides network operators with a powerful service platform for
their Ethernet services infrastructure. New enhancements including non-stop
data forwarding, Internet-class scalability and performance, advanced and
granular bandwidth management and secure network and management access provide
network operators with a complete Ethernet and IP services solution that meets
today's performance and availability requirements and can scale to deliver the
bandwidth and capacity needed for future growth.
"The expanding role of Ethernet in metro and wide area networks is driving
the need for carrier-class Ethernet platforms that meet the scalability,
reliability and performance requirements of service providers. With these
announcements today, the Foundry NetIron 40G has moved into the category of
switches that meet these requirements," said Lee Doyle, vice president for
Network Infrastructure at IDC.
"Metropolitan Area Networks and Internet Service Providers have emerged as
a key network build-out point for 10-GbE," said Bobby Johnson, president and
CEO of Foundry Networks. "With the new features we are adding today, NetIron
40G will be an even more attractive solution for organizations that need
carrier-class performance and features with the economy and convenience of
Ethernet."
Pricing and Availability
The software feature enhancements will be available in July 2004 without
charge for customers under NetIron 40G service contracts.
About Foundry Networks
Foundry Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of high-performance
enterprise and service provider switching, routing and Web traffic management
solutions. Foundry Networks' product portfolio includes Layer 2/3 LAN
switches, Layer 3 Backbone switches, Layer 4 - 7 Web switches, Wireless LAN
and access points, and Metro Routers. Foundry's 6,500 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. For more information about
the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBOLAN or visit
http://www.foundrynetworks.com.
NOTE: Foundry Networks, NetIron and the "Iron" family of marks are
trademarks of Foundry Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are the sole
property of their respective holders.
Press Contacts:
North America Europe Asia/Pacific
Jill Shanks Tom Herbst Jenny Liu
Foundry Networks Kaizo Foundry Networks
+1-408-941-7190 +0207-580-8852 Hong Kong
jshanks@foundrynet.com tom.herbst@kaizo.net +852-2845-3818
jenny@foundrynet.com
Investor Contact:
Jason Golz
Financial Dynamics
+1-415-439-4532
jgolz@fd-us.com
SOURCE Foundry Networks, Inc.
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Related links:
http://www.foundrynetworks.com
CONTACT:
media, North America, Jill Shanks of Foundry
Networks, +1-408-941-7190, or jshanks@foundrynet.com; or Europe,
Tom Herbst of Kaizo, +0207-580-8852, or tom.herbst@kaizo.net, for
Foundry Networks; or Asia/Pacific, Jenny Liu of Foundry Networks
Hong Kong, +852-2845-3818; or investors, Jason Golz of Financial
Dynamics, +1-415-439-4532, or jgolz@fd-us.com, for Foundry
Networks
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