Force10 Networks Achieves Number One Marketshare in Layer 3 Ten Gigabit Ethernet According to Dell'Oro Group.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

MILPITAS, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 20, 2004

Force10 Networks became the networking industry's leading provider of Layer 3 Ten Gigabit Ethernet (GbE) ports during the first quarter of 2004, according to the most recent Layer 2/Layer 3 Ethernet report from Dell'Oro Group. Force10 achieved a 36 percent share of the market, an increase of nine percent over the fourth quarter of 2003. In addition, Force10 was the number two supplier of 10 GbE ports for the total Layer 2 and Layer 3 markets, up from number three in the fourth quarter.

"The first quarter was a period of tremendous expansion for Force10. Existing customers expanded their networks, and new customers initiated significant deployments in data centers, service provider networks and grid/cluster environments," said Andrew Feldman, vice president of marketing for Force10. "We achieved a record sales level and customer base during the quarter. This is definitive validation that the Force10 E-Series switch/routers deliver the resiliency, reliability and scalability that high performance network customers require."

Universities, large enterprises and service providers around the world are deploying the Force10 E-Series to increase network performance. Recent Force10 customer deployments include NTT, NASA, the Department of Homeland Security, Petroleum Geo Services, Korea's Chung Cheong University and Sangji Youngseo College, Japan's second largest service provider BIGLOBE and Veritas DGC.

Force10 was recently named by the editors of Red Herring magazine to the Red Herring 100 list of private technology companies positively transforming the marketplace and was singled out for an Investors' Choice award at the Network Outlook Private Equity conference for its prospects in the data communications industry. The company was also recently named the number one private company by LightReading for being a "leading player in one of telecom's hottest markets -- 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching."

According to the Dell'Oro Group's Five Year Ethernet Forecast, early 10 Gigabit Ethernet volume deployments will be on high-end modular platforms, such as the Force10 E-Series, in large campus backbones, inter-campus connections and larger data centers. Driven by the bandwidth demand of grid/cluster computing environments and parallel applications, the 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch market will grow from $39 million in 2002, to $1.6 billion in 2007.

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 and FTOS are trademarks of Force10 Networks, Inc. All other company names are trademarks of their respective holders.