BLADE Network Technologies and IBM Team to Enable IPTV and Quadruple-Play Telecom Solutions

Market Wire, February, 2007

BLADE Network Technologies Inc. (BLADE), the leading provider of network switching infrastructure for blade servers, announced that its 10 Gigabit Ethernet (10GE) switch for blade servers will be available as a key component of IBM BladeCenter HT. Equipped with BLADE's 10GE switches, an IBM BladeCenter HT system, a NEBS/ETSI-compliant blade server chassis with a 1.2Tbps backplane, now becomes an ideal solution for telecommunications service providers offering IPTV and other quadruple-play services consisting of voice, video, data and wireless for today's broadband households.

IBM BladeCenter HT equipped with BLADE 10GE switches is the ideal standards-based solution for provisioning Next Generation Network (NGN) broadband applications such as IPTV that require the IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) to equip carrier-grade networks. Alternatively, IBM BladeCenter HT with BLADE's native IP networking can be used by telecommunications service providers that see the advantages of using the open Internet for SIP and XML communications in less complex network topologies that can reduce costs, overcome the problems of internetworking between alternative protocols and remove duplication of underlying IP routing systems.

"The relationship with BLADE helps IBM address telecommunications providers' pressing imperative to introduce and equip new, revenue-generating services on a most cost-effective platform," said Jim Pertzborn, Vice President, Telecommunications Industry, IBM Systems and Technology Group. "BLADE's new 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch is an essential component of IBM's Virtual Fabric Architecture for BladeCenter, enabling a lower-cost, high-volume alternative to far more expensive telecommunications-specific systems. With BLADE's 10GE networking, IBM BladeCenter can enable Next Generation Network topologies without adding additional complexity."

IBM BladeCenter systems equipped with BLADE's Nortel Layer 2/3 10G Ethernet Switch Module (10GbESM) are currently being evaluated by several global telecommunications service providers. The new blade server system is designed to help service providers and network equipment operators increase the performance of multi-core networks by delivering higher levels of bandwidth and throughput for applications, while improving efficiency and resource sharing of NGN infrastructures through increased 10GE port availability.

"As the number-one provider of network switches for the blade server industry, BLADE Network Technologies is the only company offering 10 Gigabit Ethernet blade switches for Next Generation Networks that require the off-the-shelf NEBS/ETSI-compliant form factor," said Vikram Mehta, President and CEO of BLADE Network Technologies. "Our new 10GE blade server switch for IBM BladeCenter HT answers telecommunications service providers' burning need for affordable, standards-based systems to fuel new revenue streams and power bandwidth-intensive and latency-sensitive applications such IPTV, VoD, and VoIP."

"Blade servers with integrated IP networking can transform the way today's telecommunications networks are built and operated," said Dr. Ray Mota, Chief Technology Officer at Synergy Research Group. "New applications like IPTV and other quadruple-play services require 10 Gigabit Ethernet bandwidth, while blade servers save space and reduce cabling complexity and power consumption. Carriers' migration to Next Generation Network platforms can benefit from blade servers with embedded switching technology like that from BLADE Network Technologies."

About the BLADE 10GE Switch

Highlights of BLADE Network Technologies' Nortel 10GbESM for IBM BladeCenter include:

--  BLADE's 10GE switch offers the industry's best price/performance value
    of any 10GE switch at just $24 per Gbps -- under $500 per port.
--  For increasingly popular iSCSI storage environments, the cost per Gbps
    of BLADE's 10GE switch is one quarter that of current 4 Gbps Fibre Channel
    blade switches.
--  Provides six 10GE uplinks and 14 10GE downlinks for individual server
    blades.
--  Eliminates the need for aggregation layer switches because of its high
    bandwidth and rich Layer 2 and Layer 3 feature set, resulting in a cabling
    reduction of up to 85 percent.
--  Reduces power consumption by a factor of 4x over standalone switches
    and lessens the potential for outages caused by cable failures and network
    complexity.
--  Can be deployed individually or in pairs within IBM BladeCenter HT
    enclosures to meet Network Equipment Building System (NEBS) Level 3 and
    European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) standards.
--  Supports advanced QoS, Layer 3 static and dynamic routing protocols,
    and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)-based high availability.
--  Filter-based security is configurable to allow or deny traffic based
    on MAC address, IP address or virtual local area network (VLAN) ID. Support
    for 802.1x ensures dynamic, port-based security and server authentication.