Press Releases

2009

FORCE10 NETWORKS DELIVERS ETHERNET-OPTIMIZED PLATFORM FOR MPLS CORE NETWORKS

Added MPLS capability on ExaScale™ switch/router line enables carriers to leverage Ethernet economics to build cost-effective next-generation network cores that support ever-growing bandwidth needs

SAN JOSE, Calif., December 7, 2009 – Force10 Networks, Inc., a global technology leader that data center, service provider and enterprise customers rely on when the network is their business, today announced the immediate availability of MPLS (multi-protocol label switching) functionality for its ExaScale™ E-Series core switch/routers. Extending MPLS label switch router (LSR) support to the ExaScale platform enables businesses, such as wholesale carriers, Internet exchange carriers, Internet portals and global 500 enterprises, to seamlessly expand capacity within their MPLS core infrastructure in order to more cost effectively support the rapid growth of “best effort” multimedia traffic.

“Ongoing market developments continue to show that a more cost-effective MPLS LSR core providing Ethernet reliability and resiliency will represent the logical evolution of the network,” says Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president, Yankee Group. “Force10 sees the market similarly; and as a result, their specific MPLS LSR approach contrasts with traditional core router suppliers who just want to develop high-bandwidth Ethernet interfaces for these carrier platforms but don’t necessarily address the economic challenges facing the core network.”

Purpose-Built for Specialized Market Needs
As a purpose-built Ethernet-optimized LSR, the ExaScale platform solves a significant financial burden for network operators needing to scale the MPLS core network to accommodate ever-increasing amounts of best effort multimedia traffic. “Customers tell us video and web content alone currently accounts for more than 50% of total Internet traffic, and that percentage continues to increase,” says Steve Garrison, vice president of marketing, Force10 Networks. “This rapid growth associated with traffic not directly tied to revenues is driving carriers to look for alternatives to traditional general purpose core routers for expanding capacity more cost effectively.”

The ExaScale platform combines high-density, non-blocking, line-rate 10 GbE switching and routing with robust MPLS LSR support at 1/5th of the cost of a traditional core router, enabling carriers to fully capitalize on the economic advantages of Ethernet. In addition to capital cost savings, the ExaScale platform’s patent-protected hardware and software innovations provide significant space- and power-related savings while also ensuring high availability. 

Extending Force10’s Leadership in Switching, Routing and High Availability into the Carrier Core
The Force10 E-Series delivers an Internet-scale BGP (Border Gateway Protocol) routing implementation, and a high availability design, that has been proven in deployments with many of the world’s largest network operators. The ExaScale platform utilizes a distributed forwarding architecture incorporating three CPUs and leverages distributed control plane processing to deliver hitless failover as well as graceful and deterministic failure recovery. All system components are hot swappable and 1+1 control plane redundancy is supported.  Force10’s FTOS, operating system software which runs on the ExaScale hardware platform, is fully modular and built on NetBSD and a Unix-like kernel to ensure high reliability and availability. With support for 140 line-rate 10 GbE SFP+ ports in a half-rack chassis, the ExaScale E-Series is the only switch/router with 125 Gbps of capacity per slot today.

“Introducing MPLS LSR functionality to the ExaScale platform illustrates our ongoing commitment to combine the best of switching and routing to deliver disruptive economic advantages to core networks, first in the data center and now in the carrier core,” says Garrison. “As carriers adopt 10 GbE in their MPLS core networks, we are confident that they will increasingly leverage our Ethernet-optimized LSR to expand capacity for a lower cost.” 

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.