Force10 Networks the Fastest Growing Provider of Layer 3 Ten Gigabit Ethernet During the First Half of 2004

Business Wire, August 19, 2004

MILPITAS, Calif. -- Force10 Networks increased its Layer 3 Ten Gigabit Ethernet port shipments 92 percent during the first half of 2004, the fastest growth rate of any vendor in the category, according to the most recent Dell'Oro Group Ethernet switch report. The total Layer 3 Ten Gigabit Ethernet market expanded 73 percent during the same period. For the second quarter, Force10's worldwide shipments of Layer 3 Ten Gigabit Ethernet ports increased 24 percent over the previous quarter.

"Over the last six months, Force10's Ten Gigabit port shipments nearly doubled, reflecting our strong customer traction across all of our targeted verticals and geographies," said Andrew Feldman, Force10 vice president of marketing. "Existing customers continued aggressive network upgrades and expansions while new customers searching for the best available performance, resiliency and scalability began initial Force10 deployments in the first half."

Universities, large enterprises and service providers around the world are deploying the Force10 E-Series to increase network performance. Force10 recently announced that the Cornell Theory Center at Cornell University has deployed Force10's E-Series switch/routers in its newest high performance cluster, ranked among world's top supercomputers. Other recent Force10 customer deployments include NTT-ME, NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, Petroleum Geo Services, European Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting, Japan's leading service provider BIGLOBE and Veritas DGC.

10 Gigabit Ethernet found initial traction in research and laboratory environments, but recently began broad scale adoption in large corporations, service providers and Internet exchange carriers. In these high performance environments, architectural changes, such as server consolidation, grid/cluster computing, as well as bandwidth-intensive applications, such as voice and video, are driving demand for 10 Gigabit Ethernet. According to the Dell'Oro Group Five Year Ethernet Forecast, the 10 Gigabit Ethernet market will grow from $358.2 million in 2004, to $2 billion in 2008.

The Force10 E-Series combines unmatched scalability with best-in-class resiliency to bring the network and application predictability required to maximize performance. Fully distributed hardware and advanced software deliver line-rate Gigabit and 10 Gigabit throughput across all ports regardless of traffic type or condition while built-in hardware redundancy guarantees performance continuity.

About Force10 Networks

Force10 Networks is the pioneer in high performance switching and routing. Based on a revolutionary system architecture that delivers best-in-class resiliency and massive scalability, Force10's E-Series switch/routers ensure predictable application performance, increase network availability, and reduce operating costs. Today, many of the world's largest Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks depend on Force10 Networks. For additional information, please visit the company's website at www.force10networks.com.

Force10, E-Series, EtherScale, TeraScale and FTOS are trademarks of Force10 Networks, Inc. All other company names are trademarks of their respective holders.