NEC Introduces BlueFire IP Family of Convergence Solutions; Routers and Switches with Silicon-based IPv6 and IPv4 Add Data Infrastructure to Voice Solutions

Business Wire, Oct 11, 2001

Business Editors & High Tech Writers

IRVING, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 11, 2001

Sparked by surging market acceptance of NEC Corporation's data infrastructure products in Asia, NEC America, Inc. (NEC) today announced the North American release of BlueFire(TM), the first family of enterprise IP routers and switches that implement IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) as well as IPv4 in hardware.

The BlueFire solutions provide NEC resellers with a LAN/WAN data offering that is integrated with NEC's IP telephony products to offer customers end-to-end IP converged solutions. BlueFire IP products constitute the data infrastructure elements of NEC's Enterprise Open Network (NEON), the company's architecture for converged networking that delivers the functionality, investment protection, proven reliability and performance of NEC's traditional voice platforms.

"We first deployed these converged solutions in Japan where we are an established market leader and where the limited availability of IP addresses makes the requirement for IPv6 more urgent," said Shuichi Hashimoto, vice president and general manager of the Marketing and Sales Support Division of NEC America's Corporate Networks Group. "Now that they have been running successfully there for almost a year, we are introducing them as the BlueFire family into the North American market, where the need for end-to-end converged infrastructures is growing rapidly. Users can implement IPv4 now and migrate to IPv6 as business needs dictate."

"Our traditional NEAX(R) family of PBX products is well known for superior functionality and extreme reliability," adds Hashimoto. "We now can offer that same level of performance to router and switch customers as they migrate to converged IP solutions."

The BlueFire IX5010 is a MultiService IP switch router that allows the integration of IP voice and data, Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Frame Relay (FR), Packet Over SONET (POS) and Gigabit Ethernet. It can be used to provide access for various WAN transport media such as ATM and FR to Gigabit Ethernet LAN backbone or to consolidate legacy ATM and FR traffic for transport across a Gigabit Ethernet/IP WAN network.

The BlueFire 700 IP switch series offers a wide variety of Layer 2/Layer 3 switch capacities with scalable fabrics ranging from 4 Gbps to 96 Gbps. It can thus accommodate small workgroups, intermediate-to-large enterprises or corporate backbones. As with all BlueFire products, the BlueFire 700 IP switch series supports both Fast Ethernet (10/100) and Gigabit Ethernet data rates and processes packets at wire-speed. BlueFire products offer sophisticated yet easy-to-implement IPv6 and IPv4 Quality of Service (QoS), assuring that business-critical voice traffic is delivered with minimal delay and packet loss.

While BlueFire routers and switches mark NEC's entry into the North American high-speed IP router and switch marketplace, NEC nonetheless has a strong background in converged networking. "We gained a solid reputation with NETNEX ATM products," said John Stafford, director of data communications products for NEC America's Corporate Networks Group. Mr. Stafford continued, "Therefore we have taken great care to assure that BlueFire products are highly competitive with a very solid price and performance value that satisfy both our customers and our resellers."

Resellers will be able to enjoy the same kinds of technical and sales channel support programs that NEC has developed in over 15 years of PBX networking. "We have many customers here who have been networking our large NEAX PBX systems for quite some time," Mr. Hashimoto added. "Now as they move into the world of converged IP voice and data networking, they can look to a stable company they know they can trust for reliable, long term, end-to-end solutions. This is especially important given the current turmoil within the telecommunications industry."

Editors Note: For additional information on NEC America, Inc., Corporate Networks Group and its products, please consult the World Wide Web at http://www.cng.nec.com.

About NEC America Inc.

NEC America, Inc., an affiliate of NEC Corporation (Nasdaq:NIPNY), develops, manufactures, and markets a complete line of advanced communications products and software for public and private networks, including digital key telephone and PBX systems; ATM switching systems; facsimile equipment; wireless communications; fiber optic transmission systems; data communications products; digital microwave radio, satellite communications and network management systems. NEC Corporation and its affiliates worldwide are a $43 billion global leader whose 150,000 employees are dedicated to providing leading-edge computer, communications and semiconductor products and services.