Press Releases

2004

EDITORS OF RED HERRING MAGAZINE NAME FORCE10 NETWORKS AS A TOP COMPANY TRANSFORMING THE TECHNOLOGY INDUSTRY

MILPITAS, Calif., May 11, 2004 — Red Herring magazine today named Force10 Networks, a pioneer in 10 Gigabit switching and routing, to its Red Herring 100 list of private technology companies that are transforming marketplace dynamics. Force10 was selected by the editors of Red Herring based on the quality of the company’s business model, its strong customer base and industry partnerships as well as the depth of the management team’s experience.

“This recognition by the editors of Red Herring is the result of what our employees, investors and partners set out to do when we started Force10 – to push the boundaries of next-generation networking quality, resiliency and security,” said Force10 CEO Marc Randall. “The nominated companies included some of the best in the business, and we’re honored to have been selected for the Red Herring 100.”

The Red Herring 100 are selected from more than 500 nominated companies from ten countries, including China, Japan, Israel, the U.K. and Germany. The editors use both qualitative measurements and quantitative business metrics to assess a company’s potential to distinguish itself from other private technology firms.

Red Herring publisher Alex Vieux said the Red Herring 100 award has a tradition of identifying new and innovative technology companies and entrepreneurs. "At the Red Herring, we scour the industry to identify the best and brightest technology companies that are transforming the current markets and creating new ones," said Vieux. "The Red Herring 100 is our annual list of the most promising private companies. Like Google, eBay, Salesforce.com, and other previous Red Herring 100 alumni, these 100 have the potential to become the next titans of technology."

In March, Force10 was singled out for an Investors’ Choice award at the Network Outlook Private Equity conference for its prospects in the data communications industry. The company was also highlighted as a top beneficiary of the telecom resurgence in the recent report, “Telecom Recovery Investment Opportunities,” published by independent market research organization Heavy Reading.

Force10’s E-Series of switch/routers combines unmatched scalability with best-in-class resiliency to bring the network and application predictability required to maximize network performance. Fully distributed hardware and modular software deliver line-rate Gigabit and 10 Gigabit throughput across all ports regardless of traffic type or condition while built-in hardware redundancy guarantees performance continuity.

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.