Press Releases

2004

FORCE10 CEO MARC RANDALL OUTLINES REQUIREMENTS FOR THE NEXT GENERATION DATA CENTER AT NETWORK OUTLOOK CONFERENCE

MILPITAS, Calif., March 9, 2004 — The next generation data center must be capable of supporting its diverse base of users and the complex applications they will demand while guaranteeing zero downtime, Force10 Networks CEO Mark Randall said today at the Network Outlook 2004 conference. Randall said the data center must continuously evolve into an asset that effectively leverages applications, computing resources and the latest technology.

“The new data center is responsible for connecting all of a company’s constituents including internal users, partners, suppliers and customers – all day, every day,” said Randall during the conference that showcases the companies driving new development in the enterprise and service provider markets. “When the data center stops working, the business stops working, and in today’s competitive environment, that’s unacceptable.”

With distributed applications and interconnected users relying on the data center, the financial impact of downtime is magnified. Industry analyst firm Gartner estimates that the hourly cost of network downtime is $42,000. A typical business experiences, on average, about 87 hours of downtime a year, resulting in total losses of more than $3.6 million.

“Resiliency has become paramount as a downtime preventative measure, helping to ensure the stability and predictability of the data center,” said Randall. “At both the system and network level resiliency guarantees that the data center operates as an asset to the company, increasing the efficiency of business processes and enhancing the user experience.”

Force10 recently announced its industry-leading hitless failover technology, an advanced feature that eliminates the downtime associated with system errors and reduces productivity and revenue losses. As the first and only 10 Gigabit Ethernet networking vendor to demonstrate failover of both Layer 2 switching and Layer 3 routing traffic with zero packet loss, Force10 brings to networks an unmatched resiliency and predictability.

Network Outlook is an annual conference sponsored by VentureWire that explores the economic and technology issues impacting the data communications industry. This year the conference highlights the technologies, services and products that will enable carriers and enterprises to maximize the value of their networks. The conference takes place March 9-10, at the Sofitel San Francisco Bay in Redwood City, Calif.

About Force10 Networks
Force10 Networks is the global technology leader that data center, service provider and enterprise customers rely on when the network is their business. The company’s high performance solutions are designed to deliver new economics by virtualizing and automating Ethernet networks.  Force10’s high density and resilient Ethernet switching and routing products increase network availability, agility and efficiency while reducing power and cooling costs.  Force10 provides 24x7 service and support capabilities to its global customer base in more than 60 countries worldwide.  For more information on Force10 Networks, please visit www.force10networks.com.

Contact:
Kevin Kimball
Force10 Networks Inc.
+1 408 571-3544
kkimball@force10networks.com

Force10 Networks, Force10, E-Series, Traverse, and TraverseEdge are registered trademarks and ExaScale, S-Series, TeraScale, and FTOS are trademarks of Force10 Networks, Inc.  All other company names are trademarks of their respective holders.