Press Releases

2006

SOUTH KOREA’S PREMIER ONLINE GAMING PORTAL NEXON PROVIDES SUPERIOR GAMING EXPERIENCE WITH FORCE10 NETWORKS TERASCALE E-SERIES

MILPITAS, Calif., June 21, 2006 — Force10 Networks® today announced that Nexon, South Korea’s largest online gaming portal, has deployed the TeraScale E-Series® family of switch/routers to bring reliable, predictable performance to its gaming service, which supports 130 million visitors each month. Leveraging the industry-leading port density of the Force10 TeraScale E-Series, Nexon is expanding the capacity of its network to support games in which hundreds of thousands of gamers play simultaneously.

“In the online gaming market, graphics and creative, interactive storylines are a competitive advantage, but it is the reliability and stability of the network that ensure our customers continue to enjoy the games we offer,” said Jung Young-hak, operations systems manager at Nexon. “The Force10 E-Series delivers the scalability and routing stability that are essential for creating a superior gaming experience.”

With the high density and compact form factor of the Force10 TeraScale E600, Nexon is building the 10 Gigabit Ethernet network it needs to support new game titles and a rapidly growing subscriber base. The TeraScale E600 supports 630 Gigabit and 112 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports, providing Nexon with seamless scalability to expand network capacity as demand requires.

The unique three CPU architecture of the Force10 TeraScale E-Series distributes switching, routing and management functionalities between distinct processors to ensure the 24x7 network uptime Nexon requires. With protected memory for each process, the TeraScale E-Series isolates faults to prevent them from cascading through the system, providing a robust foundation for Nexon’s online gaming network.

“Online gaming is an extremely competitive industry in which success hinges upon the ability to provide gamers with a high quality interactive experience, and that begins at the network level,” said Mark Cooper, senior vice president of worldwide sales. “The Force10 TeraScale E-Series combines the high density and resiliency that ensures the seamless performance and capacity scalability that are crucial to online games in which hundreds of thousands of people are playing simultaneously.”

Founded in 1994, Nexon developed the world’s first graphic massive multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG), The Kingdom of the Winds. Today, Nexon is one of Korea’s leading publishers of online games and South Korea’s largest online gaming portal. Nexon’s CrazyArcade BnB holds a world record for 700,000 concurrent users, and KartRider has more than 15 million total subscribers.

According to the DFC Intelligence Online Game Market Forecasts, subscription revenue from online games was $2 billion in 2005 with Asia, excluding Japan, accounting for 50 percent of online game subscription revenue.

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.