CERN Accelerates Particle Research With Enterasys Networks' SmartSwitch Router Gigabit Network.

Business/Technology Editors

NetWorld Interop 2000

Booth #6281

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 10, 2000

European Laboratory for Particle Physics Selects Enterasys'

Award-Winning SSRs to Provide Secure Connectivity and Increased

Bandwidth

Enterasys Networks announced today that CERN, the world's largest particle physics center, has initiated a full migration to Gigabit Ethernet using Enterasys' high-performance networking solutions. Providing a reliable, secure high-speed network infrastructure with Enterasys' award-winning SmartSwitch Router, CERN will supply its 15,000 users with the increased bandwidth and network management tools to perform some of the world's most complicated scientific studies and experiments.

Founded in 1954, the laboratory was one of Europe's first joint ventures and has become a shining example of international collaboration. More than 6,500 scientists use CERN's state-of-the-art scientific facilities, including the Large Electron Positron (LEP) collider, the world's largest accelerator, with a circumference of 27 kilometers. With complex technologies like particle accelerators and detectors, vacuum systems, and magnets, CERN has made advances in fields such as information technology, surveying, electronics and electrical engineering, mechanical engineering and medical imaging. Their theoretical findings have found practical application in cancer therapy, radiation processing, food preservation techniques, the destruction of toxic products and the creation of the World Wide Web.

"The programs moving across our network include desktop applications, representing the majority of users, and physics data collection and analysis applications, today involving about 2,000 powerful systems requiring high data transfer rates," said Jean-Michel Jouanigot, the campus network section leader in communication systems for CERN. "The work of thousands of scientists relies on the information generated through these applications. Enterasys Networks' Gigabit Ethernet solutions have allowed us to optimize these mission-critical applications for our users."

Another factor demanding the migration to a high-speed network is the increased breadth of CERN's research. The average experiment involves hundreds of experts and takes many years to complete. In addition, powerful, sensitive tools used by scientists demand high-speed throughput and precise network management. Currently, CERN is working on a new Large Hadron Collider (LHC), which will be the most powerful machine of its type in the world. When it begins operation in 2005, this machine will provide research facilities for several thousand High Energy Physics (HEP) researchers from all over the world. The LHC experiments will generate many PetaBytes of data each year, which must be stored and processed by integrated computing facilities installed at several HEP sites distributed across Europe, North America and Asia.

"As more scientists utilize CERN's services, the bandwidth demands will increase dramatically, especially in the computer center where CERN operates large server farms and stores most of the data from high-energy experiments," said Jouanigot. "Therefore, we began our current migration from FDDI to a Gigabit Ethernet backbone and chose Enterasys' SmartSwitch Router to provide the reliable, wire-speed switching infrastructure we need. The presence of the SmartSwitch Router in the network backbone has significantly increased bandwidth, both in terms of throughput and response time, resulting in a considerable increase in productivity by our physicists."

The solution includes Enterasys' award-winning SmartSwitch Router (SSR) with Gigabit modules. Specifically, CERN is deploying SSR 8600s, 8000s, and 2000s to deliver full-function IP/IPX routing and Layer 2/3/4 switching. The SmartSwitch Router provides CERN with end-to-end Quality of Service, detailed accounting and advanced security, all at wire speed. In addition, Aprisma Management Technologies' SPECTRUM network management software provides CERN with a comprehensive view of their network and the information needed for proactive decision-making.

"A highly-sophisticated and complex organization like CERN requires a powerful network infrastructure," said Henry Fiallo, president of Enterasys Networks. "Enterasys Networks' SmartSwitch Router provides CERN with the bandwidth, scalability and security it requires to carry out scientific experiments that will, in turn, bring about the technological advances of tomorrow."

About CERN

CERN, the European Laboratory for Particle Physics, has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its Member States are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Israel, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and Unesco have observer status. CERN can be found on the Internet at public.web.cern.ch/Public/.

About Enterasys Networks

Enterasys Networks is the only provider of total network solutions singularly focused on enterprise-class customers. By optimizing enterprise network solutions for e-business applications, and by providing global 24 x 7 service and support, Enterasys provides competitive advantage through IT infrastructure to enterprise customers.

With over 15 years of experience in providing solutions to the world's largest corporate customers, Enterasys Networks is delivering hardware and software solutions that advance the capabilities of e-business focused companies. Enterasys Networks is focused on providing solutions for the e-business environment of the future, including Voice-over-IP and video convergence, call center management, advanced application distribution, web hosting and e-business control, enterprise security and VPN solutions. For more information on Enterasys Networks, please visit our web site www.enterasys.com.

Enterasys Networks is a Cabletron Systems (NYSE:CS) company.