SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Foundry Networks®, Inc. (Nasdaq: FDRY - News), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, announced today that its network solutions recently were chosen to provide network infrastructure for Salt Lake City's new $80 million Public Library. The library's new network supports a powerful information system that delivers a ten-fold increase in access speed for converged voice, data and video information for library patrons and staff. Since opening its doors, the library has seen more than a 400% increase in patron traffic and demand for its information resources, which the new network has handled with complete reliability.

Within its striking modern architecture, the new 240,000 square foot building includes more than 300 computer workstations, a 58-station computer laboratory, a multimedia conference room and a new library database system. To deliver powerful networking connections, the Salt Lake City Library chose Foundry's FastIron® chassis, FastIron Edge switches and ServerIron® systems as well as NetScreen's integrated firewall and virtual private network solution. Throughout the library, computer stations now have secure 100 Megabit per second access to powerful databases, indexes, digitized documents, multimedia resources and the Internet.

"The need for faster connections and shorter download times was paramount in designing our new network. Also, we needed a system to handle large, data-intensive applications that generate huge volumes of network traffic," said Tebbin Salvesen, Salt Lake City Library's manager of computer information systems. "Online video and music, live voice, rich media applications, and realistic Internet games are just some of the capabilities we support today. With this new network, we can also evenly distribute the support necessary for increasing bandwidth as the library grows and adds more capabilities in the future," added Mr. Salvesen.

Commenting on the library's four-fold increase in both patron and network traffic, Mr. Salvesen added, "The library's popularity and role as a community hub will only continue to grow, meaning ever more traffic. We are ready. The heart of our information system is beating strong, thanks to the Foundry systems." Earlier this month, the library opened a new public plaza complete with gardens, fountains, and high-speed wireless Internet access for library patrons.

Key to the library's decision to use the Foundry solution was the company's ASIC-based implementation of sFlow (RFC 3176), a real-time, network-wide monitoring technology that helps IT administrators perform rapid analysis of network traffic and troubleshoot problems down to the user, application or port level. sFlow capability, a valuable part of Foundry's JetCore(TM) ASIC architecture, offers complete network traffic flow visibility from Layer 2 up to Layer 7 without any impact to network performance for all Foundry switches and routers including 10 Gigabit Ethernet platforms.

The library network was designed and installed through the teamwork of Foundry and local systems integrator, NetPath Systems. To prepare for a smooth, bug-free deployment, NetPath staged the entire library network in its own laboratories, simulating traffic to and from every server, desktop and Internet hookup to be installed.

Another benefit the library has realized through its powerful network is that it has become a "hub" on the Utah Education Network (EdNet), a two-way, fully interactive system that connects more than 270 schools and other sites throughout Utah. Previously, the library relied on a local community college for access to EdNet; today the Library has a direct broadband link to EdNet, which affords it 20 times the bandwidth it had before, and allows the library to supply Internet access to the surrounding community.

Foundry Networks Inc.