Foundry Networks Launches Major Metropolitan Area Network Initiatives With New Product Offerings.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

LAS VEGAS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 2001

Foundry Expands Global Ethernet Metro Solutions With New Product

Offerings Including 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Bandwidth Provisioning and

Accounting, and MPLS Delivery

Foundry Networks(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing solutions, today announced new product offerings that extend Foundry's leadership in the Metropolitan Area Network (MAN) market. Foundry's new product offerings include the 10 Gigabit (10 Gbps) Ethernet Modules and Velocity Management One module (VM1) for the BigIron(R) Layer 3 switch family. Additionally, Foundry announced the beginning of field trials for Multi Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) traffic engineering after successful multivendor interoperability testing of the NetIron(R) Internet router's support for MPLS at George Mason University's (GMU) Advanced Internet Lab (AIL).

"Gigabit Ethernet technology along with Optical transports is causing a paradigm shift in how public Metropolitan Area Networks are built," said Lawrence Orans, Senior Analyst at Gartner Group. "The bandwidth/cost model of these new metro-based services is so revolutionary that network managers must change the way that they think about bandwidth."

A Complete Metropolitan Networking Solution

The new BigIron 10 Gigabit Ethernet interface modules provide a tenfold performance increase over a single strand of fiber, allowing Metro service providers to get massive bandwidth capacity enhancements without costly "forklift" upgrades. Based on 802.3ae 10 Gigabit Ethernet standards, the BigIron 10 Gigabit Ethernet solutions are ideal for traffic aggregation at the Metro POPs and across the Metro core. The BigIron Velocity Management module is Foundry's next-generation management platform, with significant performance and capability enhancements purpose-built for the Metro network environment. With the VM1 platform's high-performance bandwidth provisioning and IP accounting capabilities, Metro service providers can now provision bandwidth on demand and deliver accounting and billing information through NetFlow, thereby turning bandwidth into a profitable revenue stream. With the existing BigIron's super VLAN aggregation, Layer 2 Packet Over SONET (POS), long-haul Gigabit Ethernet of up to 150km and extensive security and quality of service capabilities, the BigIron Layer 3 switch is the network infrastructure platform of choice for Metro service providers. Through combination of the BigIron and the NetIron Internet router with MPLS traffic engineering, Foundry now provides a high performance total infrastructure solution for Metro service providers to create profitable, differentiated Metro services to their customers.

"With the new Velocity Management one module (VM1), 10 Gigabit Ethernet Interface modules, MPLS traffic engineering interoperability demonstration and rollout, and our announced MPLS Metro solution including support for Ethernet over MPLS, based on IETF Draft-Martini, and MPLS VPN, Foundry continues its leadership in supplying high performance solutions for broadband IP infrastructure," said Bobby Johnson, president and CEO of Foundry Networks. "These new product offerings help position Foundry as one of the leading Metro networking solution providers worldwide."

Global Ethernet Solutions To Build Broadband IP Infrastructure

Foundry's Global Ethernet Metro solutions combine the simplicity and price/performance of Ethernet, with the reliability of SONET and efficiency of optical networking technologies. Using BigIron Layer 3 switches with the VM1 module, Metro service providers can now offer sophisticated on-demand bandwidth provisioning, and NetFlow compatible flow-based accounting for accurate billing. After using Foundry's Ethernet switching and its unique Layer 2 POS and Super VLAN Aggregation, Metro service providers can provide high performance, totally secured, broadband IP connectivity to their end users to turn bandwidth into a profitable revenue stream.

"Optical Ethernet in the metro area is becoming an important area of growth for many service providers, but enhancements to basic Ethernet technology are needed to meet customer requirements," said David Passmore, Research Director at the Burton Group. "Vendors such as Foundry are fueling this growth through the introduction of products incorporating 10 Gigabit Ethernet, Ethernet over MPLS, and more-rapid provisioning capabilities."

Delivering Tenfold Performance Gain Without the Forklift Pain

The BigIron Layer 3 switch, introduced in 1997, was the first ASIC-based modular device to announce support for 10 Gbps Ethernet without requiring a chassis swap-out or forklift upgrade. Foundry's unique 10 Gbps Ethernet module architecture extends support of the advanced switching and routing feature sets offered on all of Foundry's Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, and Gigabit Ethernet modules to 10 Gbps of packet forwarding throughput. Foundry's 10 Gigabit Ethernet products mark a major milestone as much for the evolution of Ethernet technology itself as for Foundry's industry leadership.

MPLS To Provide Reliability, Quality of Service, Security, And Sophisticated Traffic Engineering In The Metro Networks

By integrating the benefits of MPLS technology into Global Ethernet Metro solutions, Foundry offers Metro service providers a compelling value proposition -- simplicity of Ethernet, reliability of SONET, quality of service of ATM, and the efficiency of optical technologies for best-of-breed solutions. Metro service providers can now use MPLS to provide end-to-end quality of service, traffic engineering for superior traffic flow control, secure connectivity, and high value IP services including Ethernet over MPLS and VPN across high performance Metropolitan networks.

About Foundry Networks

Foundry Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY) is a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing including Internet routers, Layer 2/3 LAN switches, and Layer 4-7 web switches with integrated Internet traffic and content management. Foundry's 3,300+ customers include the world's premier ISPs and enterprises, portals, search engines, e-commerce sites, and universities along with the leading entertainment, pharmaceutical, government, financial, and manufacturing companies. Some of these customers include: AOL (NYSE: AOL), EarthLink (Nasdaq:ELNK), AT&T WorldNet, MSN, and Cable & Wireless (NYSE:CWP), Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), Incyte Genomics, Inc. (Nasdaq:INCY), The University of Washington, University of Miami, LucasFilm, U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy, NASA and NIH. For more information about the company and its products, call 888/TURBO-LAN or visit www.foundrynetworks.com.

This press release contains forward-looking information within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and is subject to the safe harbor created by this section. These forward looking statements include statements regarding planned products or product features (Products) that are under development, such as MPLS. While Foundry is planning for the commercial availability of such Products, they are still under development and subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, which could delay the planned availability. Actual results may differ materially due to these and other factors. The matters discussed in this press release also involve risks and uncertainties described from time to time in Foundry's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In particular, see the Risk Factors described in Foundry's final Prospectus dated September 27, 1999 for its initial public offering as well as its most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and Annual Report on Form 10-K. Foundry assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking information contained in this press release.

Note to Editors: Foundry Networks, BigIron, and NetIron are trademarks of Foundry Networks, Inc. NetFlow may be a trademark of Cisco Systems, Inc.