Press Releases

2004

FORCE10 NETWORKS ADDS VICE PRESIDENT OF STRATEGIC ALLIANCES TO RAPIDLY EXPANDING WORLDWIDE SALES TEAM

MILPITAS, Calif., November 1, 2004 — Force10 Networks today announced that it has named John Erdman vice president of strategic alliances. Erdman, an industry veteran with more than 20 years of experience developing and managing global channels and alliances, joins Force10’s rapidly expanding sales team to build strategic partnerships. During the second half of 2004, Force10 expects to double its worldwide sales force.

“We see the market potential for the Force10 TeraScale E-Series significantly expanding across all of our markets, and John will be an instrumental player in developing the global relationships necessary to identify and compete for every opportunity,” said Mark Cooper, Force10 vice president of sales. “John brings the ideal blend of experience and market knowledge necessary to fully develop a global strategic alliance program.”

Erdman was previously vice president of global channel sales at Enterasys. Earlier he managed the account and reseller base at Bay Networks, which was acquired by Nortel Networks. Following the acquisition, Erdman served as director of North American distribution for Nortel. He also was responsible for building channel programs at IBM and 3Com Corporation.

“Force10 has the strong fundamentals a company needs to accelerate a world class strategic alliance program,” said Erdman. “The company’s existing partnerships with IBM, Dell, CTC and Hitachi, along with an installed customer base of tier one enterprises, research environments and service providers, place Force10 in an enviable position for sustainable long-term growth across key industries and markets.”

Force10 recently introduced the TeraScale E-Series family of switch/routers that supports an unprecedented 672 line-rate Gigabit and 56 line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports in a single chassis. In addition to setting density benchmarks, the TeraScale E-Series can also process one billion packets per second, setting a new standard in performance. With the industry’s highest densities and throughput, the Force10 TeraScale E-Series processes more traffic on a single switch, reducing capital and operational expenses.

Force10’s worldwide sales force expansion comes as the company is increasing its diverse customer base. Government organizations, such as the Department of Homeland Security and NASA, and enterprises, such as Veritas DGC, Petroleum Geo-Services (PGS) and the European Centre for Mid-Range Weather Forecasting, have deployed the E-Series to increase network performance. Leading telecommunications service providers, including Hanaro Telecom, Biglobe and NTT-ME, are leveraging the scalability of the E-Series to add subscribers. And research environments such as TeraGrid, the Cornell Theory Center (CTC) and Lawrence Berkeley Labs are increasing processing power with the E-Series.

About Force10 Networks
Force10 Networks is a 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, the Force10 Networks logo, 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.