Foundry Networks Sets Bar for End-to-End Networking Infrastructure for High Availability E-Commerce.

Business Editors & High-Tech Writers

SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 17, 2000

Foundry Adds Significant Enhancements to ServerIronXL and BigIron

Platforms With Internet IronWare 6.0

Foundry Networks(TM) (Nasdaq:FDRY), introduces Internet IronWare(TM) 6.0, which includes the most comprehensive suite of software features for the ServerIron(TM)XL Internet traffic management switch platform.

Foundry's Internet IronWare 6.0 resolves many of the critical challenges introduced when building end-to-end networking infrastructures for eBusinesses. Major feature enhancements include Global Server Load Balancing, in addition to Cookie, SSL Session ID and URL based switching.

Foundry's Global Server Load Balancing enables eBusinesses to deploy web sites across the world for 24x7 availability, and directs customers to the nearest functioning site for fast response. Cookie and SSL Session ID based switching facilitate session persistence by directing a customer to the same server for shopping cart application transactions. URL switching gives server administrators better control and management of web content distribution across a wide range of servers.

"Foundry's ServerIronXL switch is an ideal product for our e-commerce site," said Yancy Fox, director of Network Engineering & Information Systems for Vstream, a leading Internet communication service provider. "We chose Foundry's ServerIronXL product over the competition because they have the most complete e-commerce solution in the market today. We're really excited to implement some of their new features including URL and cookie switching," continued Fox.

Global Server Load Balancing for Deploying Multi-Location Server Farms

Foundry's Global Server Load Balancing (GSLB) solution seamlessly installs in front of the existing Domain Name Server (DNS) infrastructure rather than forcing a complete DNS replacement as required by other vendor solutions. Internet IronWare 6.0's GSLB features transparently modify DNS responses to assist in directing web clients to a site that is not only up and running, but also best suited to provide the fastest response time. By using specific metrics, GSLB measures the client's proximity to the web site based on the actual client/server traffic flows. With Foundry's unique Global IP solutions, network administrators can design fault tolerant global server farm infrastructures that offer high availability, while helping to protect against catastrophic failures with complete web site backup capabilities.

URL Switching to Optimize Content Management and Distribution

Providing the most comprehensive URL parsing rules available today, Internet IronWare 6.0 empowers web server administrators with the ability to more effectively manage web content across server farms. With parsing rules based on prefix, suffix, or general pattern matching expressions, Internet IronWare 6.0 grants the ability to apply unique URL hashing methods based on partial or whole URLs. This allows the administrator to divide content throughout the servers in the server farm and leads to efficient management of web traffic by directing clients to the content specific servers, thereby increasing overall web performance. Combining URL switching with ServerIronXL's extensive feature set allows network administrators to design and implement web sites that can improve overall customer satisfaction.

Cookie and SSL Session ID Based Switching for Efficient Shopping Cart Applications

Internet IronWare 6.0 augments ServerIronXL's existing persistence methods by adding Cookie and SSL Session ID based switching, which allows for the complete processing of shopping cart applications. Through extensive definition capabilities, web administrators can maintain persistence and direct client traffic based on the Cookie or use a configurable Cookie value to exactly identify the proper server within a group in which to complete the commerce transaction. By offering a full range of session persistence methodology with the capacity to support over 1,000,000 concurrent sessions, Internet infrastructures based on Foundry Networks equipment improve customer experiences and facilitates quick and complete e-commerce transactions.

Pricing and Availability

Internet IronWare 6.0 is available today as a free upgrade to existing ServerIronXL and BigServerIron customers.

ServerIronXL provides 8, 16 or 24 10/100 Mbps base ports, redundant AC or -48 volt DC power supplies and has an expansion slot that can accommodate one or two uplink ports supporting Gigabit Ethernet copper or fiber. With the capacity to process over 60,916 connections per second and support for over 1,000,000 concurrent connections, as independently verified by The Tolly Group, ServerIronXL is the industry leader in price/performance for Layer 4-7 switches.

"With the introduction of Internet IronWare 6.0, Foundry's ServerIronXL product is in a class of its own," said Ken Cheng, vice president of Marketing for Foundry Networks. Internet Ironware 6.0 also includes firewall load balancing and transparent cache switching to dramatically improve the availability, performance and scalability of Internet services such as content publishing, web hosting and e-commerce."

About Foundry Networks

Foundry Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY) is a leader in high performance end-to-end switching solutions including Internet routers, Layer 3 switches and Internet Traffic Management systems for Layer 4-7 switching. Foundry products are installed in the world's largest ISPs including AOL (NYSE:AOL), MindSpring (Nasdaq:MSPG), AT&T WorldNet, MSN, and Cable & Wireless (NYSE:CWP). Foundry products are also installed in large enterprise, entertainment, pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies as well as search engines, e-commerce sites, universities and government organizations. Some of these customers include: The University of Washington, LucasFilm, Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), LTV Steel (NYSE:LTV), Incyte Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq:INCY) 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 our web site at www.foundrynetworks.com.

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, continued acceptance and development of Foundry's existing and new products, intense competition in the networking market, Foundry's dependence on a few large customers including Hewlett Packard, the difficulty of predicting future industry standards, Foundry's dependence upon third-party suppliers, Foundry's ability to protect intellectual property rights and to defend intellectual property claims by competitors and other risks detailed in Foundry's Registration Statement on Form S-1 and in other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Note to Editors: Foundry Networks, ServerIronXL and Internet IronWare are trademarks of Foundry Networks, Inc. All other trademarks are the sole property of their respective holders.