Press Releases

2006

FORCE10 NETWORKS TERASCALE E-SERIES INCREASES SCALABILITY AND PERFORMANCE OF ONLINE MUSIC DISCOVERY SITE PANDORA

SAN JOSE, Calif., October 16, 2006 – Force10 Networks®, the pioneer in building and securing high performance networks, today announced that Pandora Media is increasing the scalability of its online music service with a high performance network anchored by the TeraScale E-Series® family of switch/routers and the S-Series family of access switches. As an end-to-end solution for Pandora’s high performance network, the Force10 TeraScale E600 and S50 provide a seamlessly scalable foundation that can support growth well into the future without compromising performance.

“The traffic on our network has grown rather quickly, and it’s extremely important to be able to ensure a quality listening experience,” said Tom Conrad, CTO at Pandora. “The Force10 solution will allow us to efficiently and reliably deliver our service while supporting the further growth of our listener base.”

To support its unique music service, Pandora is deploying the Force10 TeraScale E-Series to build a high bandwidth Gigabit Ethernet network. The Force10 TeraScale E600 supports 112 Ten Gigabit and 630 Gigabit Ethernet ports, providing Pandora with the high density it needs to expand the network as growth continues without disrupting its service. Additionally, the high density of the TeraScale E-Series reduces the complexity of Pandora’s network by reducing the number of systems required to support current and future traffic levels.

The Force10 end-to-end solution of the TeraScale E-Series and S50 ensures maximum resiliency from the core of Pandora’s network to the edge. The Force10 TeraScale E-Series is designed with a unique three CPU architecture that distributes switching, routing and management functionalities between multiple processors. This distributed architecture both protects against malicious traffic and eliminates unplanned network downtime. As a complement to the TeraScale E-Series, the S-Series brings that same level of resiliency to the edge of Pandora’s network.

“Pandora has created a revolutionary music vehicle that allows users to explore a variety of new music based on their own song and artist preferences, and people are flocking to it, creating tremendous traffic growth on the network,” said Mark Cooper, senior vice president of worldwide sales at Force10 Networks. “The Force10 TeraScale E-Series and S-Series combination provides the scalable density and robust network resiliency Pandora requires to provide a growing number of listeners a great music experience.”

About Pandora Media™
Launched in the fall of 2005, Pandora's online radio service (www.pandora.com) is based on the Music Genome Project, which began in 2000 and is the most thorough analysis of popular music ever undertaken. Each song in this massive collection, which covers Pop, Rock, Jazz, Electronica, Hip Hop, Country, Blues, R&B, and Latin, is analyzed by a trained musician along 400 distinct musical attributes (such as melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.) to capture its unique musical identity. Music lovers need only enter the name of their favorite song or artist and Pandora does the rest -- creating a tailored stream of songs that share key musical characteristics – launching a personalized listening experience, full of new discovery across the genome. Listeners can create up to 100 of these online radio stations, refine them by providing feedback and even email them to friends.

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.