Dell's New Layer 3 Switches Provide Advanced Features at One of the Best Values in the Industry.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

ROUND ROCK, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 19, 2004

Dell (Nasdaq:DELL) today introduced two new Layer 3 Gigabit Ethernet switches designed to meet customers' sophisticated networking needs.

Unlike many comparable competitive products, the PowerConnect 6024 and 6024F come standard with high availability features and support for advanced routing protocols, making them attractive to customers as they build a scalable network infrastructure.

The new switches, available today to customers in the United States, meet the core network connectivity needs of small- and medium-sized organizations. Customers in larger environments can use the PowerConnect 6024 and 6024F to aggregate multiple switches or connect servers in the data center.

"Dell's new Layer 3 switches challenge the prices customers need to pay to acquire the standardized features and performance critical to maintaining a healthy network," said Abner Germanow, research manager with IDC. "Competitive products may include as much as a 50 percent premium for a similar feature set and can require customers to adopt higher priced modular switches to obtain high availability features."

The PowerConnect 6024 and 6024F

The PowerConnect 6024 and 6024F offer customers 24 ports of Gigabit Ethernet in copper and fiber configurations respectively, including eight ports of combined copper/fiber connectivity. The switches support a comprehensive routing protocol set, minimizing the need for customers to purchase additional software upgrades, and come standard with redundant hot-swappable internal power supplies and cooling fans to help ensure maximum uptime. In addition, the PowerConnect 6024 and 6024F include an integrated cable tester that allows customers to remotely troubleshoot cabling issues and speed deployment of the switches.

Dell also offers OpenManage Network Manager, a powerful network management system available at no additional cost when purchasing PowerConnect switches, to help customers monitor their networks and deploy firmware and configuration changes to multiple switches in a single operation. Customers can purchase an advanced edition of the software to help maximize network bandwidth and improve security. Upgrade network management packages are also available for customers who need to manage switches in complex multi-vendor network environments.

As with all PowerConnect managed switches, the new products come standard with lifetime 24x7 toll-free phone support, lifetime firmware upgrades and three-year next business day Advanced Exchange Service(a). For customers who need more comprehensive support, Dell offers enterprise support packages that include immediate access to senior networking technicians and advanced configuration support.

"By offering outstanding price/performance across our PowerConnect product line combined with comprehensive services, lifetime software upgrades and highly effective management tools all at no additional cost, Dell gives customers a truly compelling value proposition that helps drive down their total networking costs," said Sam Burd, general manager of Dell's networking business.

Pricing, Availability

The 24-port PowerConnect 6024 and 6024F switches are available to customers in the United States for $3,499.

Additional technical details:

Wire-speed Performance:

-- 48 Gbps total switching capacity

-- 35.6 Mpps maximum forwarding rate

-- 14,000 Media Access Control (MAC) addresses

Standards-based Protocols:

-- Static route support

-- Routing Information Protocol (RIP/RIP2)

-- Open Shortest Path First (OSPF/OSPF v.2)

-- Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP)

-- Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP)

-- Distance Vector Multicast Routing Protocol (DVMRP)

-- 12,000 Unicast Routes; 256 Multicast Groups

Advanced Security:

-- IP and MAC Access Control Lists (ACL)

-- Management access control, authentication and authorization

-- Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and Secure Shell (SSH) encryption of

management traffic

-- Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) management

authentication

Advanced QoS:

-- Flow-based QoS with Layer 2-4 classification, policing, rate

limiting and marking

-- Eight priority queues per port

Management Flexibility:

-- Dell OpenManage Network Manager and OpenManage systems

management tools

-- Industry-standard Command Line Interface (CLI)

-- Embedded web server management tools

Hardware Features:

-- Dual hot-swappable power supplies

-- Dual hot-swappable cooling fans

-- Integrated cable tester

-- Serial and Ethernet out of band management ports

For more information on Dell's PowerConnect 6000 product line, visit www.dell.com/layer3.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (Nasdaq:DELL) is a premier provider of products and services required for customers worldwide to build their information-technology and Internet infrastructures. Company revenue for the past four quarters totaled $39.7 billion. Dell, through its direct business model, designs, manufactures and customizes products and services to customer requirements, and offers an extensive selection of software and peripherals. Information on Dell and its products can be obtained at www.dell.com.

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