London Internet Exchange - LINX - Becomes First European Organization to Implement Standards-Based 10-Gigabit Ethernet Technology Using Foundry Networks' Switches.

Business Editors/High-Tech Writers

SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 2, 2002

Foundry Continues Its Worldwide 10-Gigabit Ethernet Leadership

with Successful 10-Gigabit Ethernet Deployment at Europe's

Largest Internet Exchange Point 

Foundry Networks(R), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing and Layer 4 - 7 traffic management solutions, announced today that Europe's largest Internet Exchange point, The London Internet Exchange (LINX), has upgraded its network backbone from Gigabit to 10-Gigabit Ethernet using Foundry's high-performance BigIron(R) Layer 3 switches.

The London Internet Exchange is the first European organization to install high-performance, standards-based 10-Gigabit Ethernet technology from Foundry in a mission-critical live network. The project was completed by LINX and Foundry, with equipment supplied by the Service Provider Division of Total Network Solutions (TNS), a Foundry reseller partner based in Shropshire.

LINX is the leading European Internet exchange point, handling up to 96-percent of UK Internet traffic. Owned by more than 120 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and content delivery service providers collectively, LINX has grown exponentially and recently announced that it had switched its 250 trillionth packet of data since its foundation in 1994. Indeed, in the year 2001 alone, LINX handled 50 trillion packets, up 7800% on the year before. Peak daily traffic flows at the exchange now top 14-Gigabits per second.(1)

The new Foundry 10-Gigabit Ethernet solution will connect LINX's two main UK sites at Telehouse with three additional locations coming online in the next calendar quarter. The performance and reliability of LINX technology underpinning is paramount. "Because of the nature of our operation, where service reliability and availability is crucial, the decision was made at the end of last year to move to 10-Gigabit Ethernet technology using Foundry's BigIron Layer 3 switches," said Mike Hughes, head of network architecture at LINX. "Upgrading was easy -- literally we swapped the blades in our existing BigIron chassis and that was it -- down time to LINX members was no more than three minutes," continued Hughes.

Foundry has been shipping its standards-based 10-Gigabit Ethernet solution since December 2001. "Due to our price/performance, reliability, and easy upgradability, Foundry has become the 10-Gigabit Ethernet vendor of choice in this fast emerging market," said Bobby Johnson, president and CEO of Foundry Networks. "Foundry's 10-Gigabit Ethernet technology offers a very powerful and compelling solution for the construction of next-generation, high-performance networking infrastructures. By choosing Foundry, LINX is able to reap the benefits of industry-leading performance, reliability, and scalability of our products," continued Johnson.

About The London Internet Exchange

Founded in 1994, The London Internet Exchange Ltd (LINX) is the largest and most successful Internet exchange point in Europe. A neutral, not-for-profit partnership between 120 Internet Service Providers and content delivery providers globally, LINX provides the physical interconnection for its members to exchange Internet traffic through co-operative peering agreements. Most of the UK's major ISPs are LINX members and the organisation handles up to 96 per cent of UK Internet traffic using powerful, high capacity switching and routing equipment in eight Docklands and City of London sites. LINX is a founder member of Euro IX, a group comprising of European Internet Exchanges formed to share and exchange information and best practice relating to implementation, operation and administration of Internet exchange points.

For more information about The LINX, please visit the web at www.linx.org.

About Foundry Networks

Foundry Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY) is a leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing and Web traffic management solutions including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 Backbone switches, Layer 4 - 7 Web switches and Metro Routers. Foundry's 4,000 customers include the world's premier ISPs, Metro service providers, and enterprises including e-commerce sites, universities, entertainment, health and wellness, government, financial, and manufacturing companies. Some of these customers include: AOL (NYSE:AOL), EarthLink, China Telecom, MSN (Nasdaq:MSFT), Verio, Cable & Wireless (NYSE:CWP), Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), Incyte Genomics, Inc. (Nasdaq:INCY), Deutsche Bank, The University of Washington, University of Miami, Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA) of France, The British Library, U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy, NASA and the National Space Development Agency of Japan. For more information about the company and its products, call 1-888/TURBOLAN or visit www.foundrynetworks.com.

Note (1): Information in this paragraph provided by LINX.

Note to Editors: Foundry Networks, BigIron and the 'Iron' family of marks are trademarks or registered trademarks of Foundry Networks, Inc. in United States and other countries. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.