Force10 Networks Fastest Growing Modular 10 Gigabit Ethernet Vendor

Force10 Networks increased its 10 Gigabit Ethernet port shipments by 280 percent in the third quarter of 2005 over the same period a year ago, growing at a rate nearly twice as fast as its nearest competitor, according to Dell'Oro Group's most recent Ethernet switch survey. Driven by a rapidly growing customer base, Force10 became the second largest modular 10 Gigabit Ethernet vendor in both revenue and port shipments in the third quarter. "Falling average prices, growing network traffic, the rise of new bandwidth intensive applications and government regulations all applied impetus to drive deployments in the third quarter," said Mark Cooper, senior vice president of worldwide sales at Force10 Networks. "As service providers, research organizations and enterprises increasingly adopt 10 Gig, the leading density and resiliency of the E-Series is uniquely positioned to deliver the scalable high performance infrastructure they require." Much of Force10's growth was driven by customers that were upgrading their networks to 10 Gigabit Ethernet. CERN, the world's largest particle physics laboratory, deployed the Force10 TeraScale E-Series throughout its Geneva-based campus to build Europe's largest 10 Gigabit Ethernet core. Additionally, the TeraScale E-Series is providing the first transcontinental 10 Gigabit Ethernet WAN link between CERN and the StarLight optical exchange in Chicago. Internet exchange service provider Equinix also deployed the TeraScale E-Series to add capacity to its Internet Business Exchange (IBX) centers. To accommodate an increasing number of calls over its voice over IP network, Vonage deployed the TeraScale E-Series in a 10 Gigabit Ethernet upgrade. To continue providing reliable high performance networking solutions, Force10 recently introduced the industry's only 16-port 10 Gigabit Ethernet card, increasing the density of the TeraScale E-Series to 224 ports per system. Supporting 1,260 Gigabit Ethernet ports per system, the TeraScale E-Series provides a scalable platform for cost-effective network expansion. The combination of this industry-leading density and unmatched resiliency inherent in the unique multi-processor architecture of the TeraScale E-Series enables IT managers to simplify their networks, reducing both capital and operational costs. According to Dell'Oro Group, the 10 Gigabit Ethernet market will more than double in 2006 to $1.8 billion. By 2009, the 10 Gigabit Ethernet market is expected to reach $3.3 billion. The rapid growth in the market reflects the increasing adoption of 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology in the enterprise. Data center consolidation, increasing network traffic, the rise of clustering architectures and government regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley are driving the need for reliable high performance networks.