Press Releases

2005

ALWAYSON NAMES FORCE10 NETWORKS AS TOP PRIVATE COMPANY FOR NETWORKING INNOVATION

MILPITAS, Calif., July 6, 2005 — Force10 Networks today announced that AlwaysOn, an open media network, has named it to the AO 100 Top Private Companies for the innovation behind the industry-leading TeraScale E-Series family of switch/routers. Representing the most innovative, disruptive and exciting technology companies in the market, the AO 100 Top Private Companies demonstrate a strong track record, robust business model, leading technology, rapid customer adoption and significant market potential.

“This award reflects the hard work and dedication of the Force10 team at the product, customer and investor levels that has successfully brought to market a next-generation switch/router with unmatched density and resiliency,” said Stephen Garrison, vice president of corporate marketing at Force10 Networks. “As we further expand our customer base, we will continue our unparalleled history of market-leading innovation that captures the attention of the industry.”

The 100 most innovative and successful private companies were selected from more than 1,000 entries from venture investors, investment bankers, leading entrepreneurs and industry insiders. Force10 was one of only six networking hardware vendors named as a top private company for 2005 and was recognized for its excellence in innovation, market potential, customer adoption, media recognition and investor value creation.

Over the last year, Force10 has been recognized throughout the industry for its innovation and industry-leading TeraScale E-Series. Most recently, the TeraScale E300 won eWEEK’s Excellence Award for networking infrastructure. Additionally, the Force10 TeraScale E1200 was named enterprise switching and routing product of the year by searchnetworking.com. Industry analyst group Gartner also recognized Force10, naming it as a visionary in its 2004 Global Campus LAN Magic Quadrant. Force10 is the first company added to the quadrant in several years and the only private company included in the report.

The Force10 TeraScale E-Series delivers unmatched density, scalability and resiliency to lower total cost of network ownership and provides a new level of investment protection far beyond the traditional five to seven year product lifecycle. With built-in redundancy and leading density, the TeraScale E-Series ensures predictable performance regardless of traffic conditions.

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, 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.