10 Gigabit Ethernet User Conference a Success! 10 Gigabit Ethernet is HERE.

Business Editors/Technology Writers

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 8, 2002

The 10 Gigabit Ethernet User Conference, which was held Thursday October 31 through Friday November 1 2002, was a huge success. With end-users and various industry representatives of the global 10 Gigabit Ethernet community in attendance, the conference gave attendees insight into real-world networks and actual 10GbE deployments. The Conference was jointly sponsored by the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance and the National Science Foundation as a benefit for the networking industry, and was hosted by the CalNGI (Californian Next Generation Internet) Network Performance Lab at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).

"We were pleased to provide a forum for users to come and hear how their colleagues are using 10GbE. The event brought together early adopters of 10 GbE in the high-performance academic computing community, along with those in the federal and commercial sectors. It proved be very valuable to all participants," commented Kevin Walsh, Director of CalNGI Network Performance Reference Lab at SDSC, the host of The Conference.

Conference attendees heard case studies from approximately 10 end-users and technical and industry updates from 10 industry representatives as well as selected vendor experiences. Case studies centered around the use of 10 Gigabit Ethernet in data center, LAN, Metro and WAN environments and the role of test, measurement, monitoring and management of those applications.

There were also panel discussions about building high-performance 10GbE networks and 10 GbE optics. Specific case study projects included Arkansas State University, the Atlas Canada Project, the Chicago OmniNet Project, Internet2, Lawrence Berkeley Labs, Pittsburgh Supercomputer Center, Telecom Ottawa, and the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California. For more information about the conference and to view the presentations go to http://www.sdsc.edu/10GigE/.

"With the final ratification of the IEEE 10 GbE standard this summer we are seeing an increase in 10 GbE product availability. The combination of these events is encouraging prospective users to more confidently examine how 10 Gigabit Ethernet fits into their corporate backbones, data centers, and server farms to support mission-critical applications. In addition, Service Providers and carriers are considering how to leverage Ethernet's favorable total cost of ownership including the delivery of metro Ethernet services over SONET/SDH, dark fiber, or DWDM," explained Richard Brand, President of the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance (a co-sponsor of The Conference) and Director of Network Architecture and Applications at Nortel Networks. "By sharing these early adopters' experiences, we are helping to educate this market on the value proposition of employing 10 Gigabit Ethernet."

The Conference also included a Vendor Showcase with representatives from 16 10GbE network equipment providers, service and interoperability organizations including: CalNGI Network Performance Reference Lab, Cisco Systems, Extreme Networks, Force10 Networks Inc., Foundry Networks Inc., Gore Photonics, HP Procurve, Intel Corporation, Ixia, LSI Logic, Nortel Networks, OFS, Quake Technologies Inc., Spirent Communications, The Telecommunications Industry Association (TIA), and The University of New Hampshire, Interoperability Lab.

About 10 Gigabit Ethernet

Positioned as a high-speed, unifying technology for networking applications in LANs, MANs, and WANs, 10 Gigabit Ethernet will provide simple, high bandwidth at relatively low cost. In LAN applications, 10 Gigabit Ethernet will enable organizations to scale their packet-based networks from 10 Mbps to 10,000 Mbps, thereby leveraging their investments in Ethernet. In MAN and WAN applications, 10 Gigabit Ethernet will enable service providers and others to create extremely high-speed longer distance Ethernet links at very competitive cost. For specific information about the IEEE P802.3ae visit the IEEE 802 web site at www.ieee802.org.

About CalNGI

The CalNGI Network Performance Reference Lab (NPRL) is located in the California Next Generation Internet Application Development Center at the San Diego Supercomputer Center (a research unit of the University of California, San Diego). CalNGI was created by a partnership with CommercNet and the State of California, Technology, Trade & Commerce Agency. The CalNGI NPRL serves CommerceNet awardees that develop and use next-generation technologies and participates in developing and deploying next-generation network technology with other organizations. For more information on CalNGI, see http://www.calngi.org/; for more information on the San Diego Supercomputer Center, see http://www.sdsc.edu/.

About the 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance

The 10 Gigabit Ethernet Alliance was organized to facilitate and accelerate the introduction of 10 Gigabit Ethernet into the networking market. It was founded by networking industry leaders: 3Com (NASDAQ: COMS), Cisco Systems (NASDAQ: CSCO), Extreme Networks (NASDAQ: EXTR), Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC), Nortel Networks (NYSE: NT), Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ: SUNW), and World Wide Packets. Additionally, the Alliance supports the activities of the IEEE 802.3 Ethernet committee, fosters the development of the 802.3ae (10 Gigabit Ethernet) specification, and promotes interoperability among 10 Gigabit Ethernet products. For more information, visit their web site at www.10gea.org.