Foundry Trunks Up

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and SAN FRANCISCO -- Foundry Networks(r), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced its focus on easing data center expansion through three key factors:

increased carrier trunk speed, optimized data center resiliency features, and optimized energy/space efficiencies. With the acceleration in data center construction and expansion, network architects require IP transport solutions that simplify management, allow incremental growth, and dramatically increase throughput performance while remaining within the practical limits on power/cooling capacity and obtainable real estate. Foundry delivers on this need and effectively facilitates the expansion of data centers for enterprises and service providers worldwide.

Traditionally, data center growth relied on installing additional switching and routing capacity with less concern for energy use and long-term incremental performance and capacity scalability. However, due to rising power costs, networking real estate availability, and the need to amplify performance and capacity quickly without a complete network overhaul, network managers today have become exceedingly meticulous when selecting networking solutions. To exceed the demands of new and next-generation data centers, NetIron(r) router users can leverage carrier trunks that aggregate up to 32-ports of 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) and scale to a record-setting aggregated link capacity of 320 gigabits per second (Gbps). This successfully allows data center operators to efficiently augment capacity in the aggregation and core layers beyond the 10GbE barrier before the anticipated 40GbE and 100GbE standards arrive. This breakthrough solution is founded on state-of-the-art load-sharing algorithms allowing enterprise and service provider data centers to implement optimal load-balancing across link aggregation bundles (trunks) and multiple equal cost multipath (ECMP) routes. Equally as important, the ability to incrementally add trunk capacity by units of 10GbE while maintaining efficient load-balancing provides data center architects with maximum granularity and flexibility for scaling capacity in lockstep with current and future growth patterns.

Business continuity is also of utmost priority for enterprises and service providers worldwide. With data centers now an integral part of organizations' daily operations and revenue stream, network operators require maximum reliability to remain competitive. Traditionally, multiple technologies, such as Spanning Tree Protocol and Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol (VRRP), were needed in a large portion of the data center to help maintain maximum resiliency. This was not only difficult to manage but also restricted fast deployments of highly reliable data centers. Foundry solves these issues through the implementation of the Virtual Switching Redundancy Protocol (VSRP), which combines Layer 2 and Layer 3 resiliency (for default IP gateway) into a unified, intuitive, and simple to deploy and manage protocol.

Network managers can now not only maintain the greatest levels of reliability but also benefit from increased deployment speed and simplified management due to reduced configuration complexity in the servers and edge switch layers.

"There is no question that data centers are expanding and requiring more performance capacity. Simultaneously, enterprises and service providers are also demanding a significant reduction in power consumption, cooling requirements, and physical rack space," states Ray Mota, chief research officer for Synergy Research Group, Inc. "Foundry's new data center networking solutions address these requirements with viable switches and routers that not only provide added scalability, flexibility, and productivity, but also act as an effective trigger for data center growth by freeing IT operators from ongoing power constraints and delivering the capacity and performance headroom needed today and in the future."

Foundry Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: FDRY)