Foundry Networks Launches the Next Generation of Wiring Closet Switches With New FastIron II; New Product Debuts at Networld+Interop Atlanta 98 Booth No. 1629.

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct. 12, 1998--Foundry Networks Inc. today introduced the FastIron II(tm), the first in a new generation of chassis-based wiring closet switches designed to meet the non-blocking performance needs of enterprises and ISPs that deploy Gigabit Ethernet in the network core.

"The need for greater bandwidth in the core is increasingly being fulfilled by backbone switching routers that include a large number of Gigabit Ethernet ports. This new infrastructure requires a scalable and resilient next-generation wiring closet switch that provides both high-density Fast Ethernet for workstations and servers, as well as non-blocking Gigabit Ethernet riser connectivity," said Bobby Johnson, president and CEO of Foundry Networks Inc.

The FastIron II is a resilient chassis-based switch that provides 72 10/100 Mbps ports integrated with 2 to 8 Gigabit Ethernet ports for scalability. FastIron II has 128 Gbps of switching capacity and delivers throughput of 23,000,000 pps. Enterprises that require wire-speed, multi-protocol routing at the edge can field upgrade the FastIron II to full Layer 3 capabilities with Foundry's IronWare switching router services.

Highly Resilient for Mission-Critical Networks

The FastIron II includes hot swappable modules and hot swappable redundant power supplies that are front accessible for ease of operation. A redundant switch/router capability ensures sub-second failover, while fault-tolerant and load-sharing inter-switch trunk groups provide up to 16 Gbps of bandwidth.

FastIron II enables users to increase the performance and reliability of existing servers with server multi-homing. The switch supports up to 18 server trunk groups, and each group provides up to 800 Mbps of redundant bandwidth.

Foundry's IronSpan(tm) feature eliminates spanning tree limitations by offering fast path convergence, redundant multi-path load sharing links and total mesh connectivity.

Policy-based Features Increase Flexibility

FastIron II includes policy-based VLANs that allow network managers to assign up to 4096 VLANs based on port, station, protocol, sub-net and IEEE 802.1q tagged. Flexible support for such a large number of VLANs ensures that large enterprises can easily design their network to provide optimal performance.

The FastIron II also provides industry-leading support for delay-sensitive traffic with policy-based QoS. With the FastIron II, network managers can ensure applications availability using IEEE 802.1p/q and 4 levels of hardware prioritization for Layer 2, Layer 3 and Layer 4 traffic.

Enterprises that deploy many-to-one applications such as video conferencing can use Foundry's IGMP multicast hardware filtering and broadcast/multicast threshold suppression capabilities to support multicast applications without impacting network performance.

Enterprise Class Management Eases Network Administration

Enterprises can use Foundry's IronView network management tools to manage FastIron II from major platforms such as HP OpenView for Sun Solaris and Windows NT, as well as standalone Windows NT. An Integrated Command Line Interface (CLI) and web/HTTP support are also available. Remote Monitoring (RMON) support and port mirroring options provide standards based network monitoring and troubleshooting.

Configuration Options, Pricing and Availability

FastIron II is available in 3 models:

-- 72 10/100 Mbps ports + 2 Gigabit Ethernet ports

-- 72 10/100 Mbps ports + 4 Gigabit Ethernet ports

-- 72 10/100 Mbps ports + 8 Gigabit Ethernet ports

A FastIron II with 72 10/100BaseT ports and 2 1000BaseSX ports is $14,495. A FastIron II with 72 10/100BaseT ports and 4 1000BaseSX ports is $18,495, and a FastIron II with 72 10/100BaseT ports and 8 1000BaseSX ports is $26,495. The IronWare router services upgrade is $6,495. All FastIron II models are available now.

Foundry Networks Inc. is a leading provider of Gigabit Ethernet switches, routers and server load balancers. The company manufactures, markets and distributes high performance switching and routing solutions for enterprises and ISPs.

Foundry has won 11 prestigious corporate and product awards including: Network Magazine's Gigabit Ethernet Product of the Year, Business Communications Review's Best-in-Test, Best of LAN Times, Network Computing's Editor's Choice Awards and Flying Colors Award, Data Communications' Tester's Choice and Top 25 Hot Start-Ups, Computerworld's Top 100 Emerging Companies, Upside Magazine's 100 Honorable Mention and Network World's Top 75 Executives.

Foundry products have also been tested by Mier Communications and The Tolly Group. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBO.LAN or visit our web site at http://www.foundrynet.com.

Note to Editors: product photography available upon request.

Foundry Networks, FastIron and IronView are trademarks of Foundry Networks Inc.