Foundry Networks launches ServerIron Layer 4-7 switches for 10 Gigabit Ethernet applications

April 12, 2004 San Jose, CA--Foundry Networks today announced high-density modular ServerIron Layer 4-7 systems and significant enhancements to the TrafficWorks operating system that powers its ServerIron Layer 4-7 load balancing switches. The industry's first purpose-built 10 Gigabit Ethernet modular switches, the ServerIron 450 and 850 systems are powered by Foundry's JetCore switching technology, high-performance network processors and rich application intelligence, to increase availability, security and scalability of mission-critical applications.
Key highlights of the new ServerIron 450 and 850 systems, and TrafficWorks application switching enhancements include:

• Up to a four-fold increase in connection performance and denial of service protection performance for unprecedented application performance and security. The switches deliver up to 300,000 Layer 4 connections per second, and protection against DoS attacks up to 4,000,000 TCP SYN packets per second while serving legitimate user traffic.
• High density Gigabit connectivity to servers, including blade server farms, with support for up to 112 copper and fiber Gigabit Ethernet ports in a single chassis with advanced Layer 2/3 switching and routing, and Layer 4-7 application switching integrated in a single platform.
• Modular, purpose-built Layer 4-7 switch family with 10 Gigabit Ethernet support to deliver high- throughput, content- rich applications for enterprises and service providers.
• Highly intelligent 3rd generation content analysis engine that increases application security and availability of mission-critical business applications with switching support for content including HTTP, SOAP, XML, FIX, WAP, SIP and others. The highly flexible and customizable content engine performs sophisticated inspection, filtering, switching and prioritization of application traffic to maximize application availability and security.
• FIXSWITCH capability that automates connectivity, improves manageability and security, and enables rapid disaster recovery for Financial Information eXchange (FIX) applications. FIX applications are widely used to automate information exchange for securities trading, and use the FIX protocol standard.
• Advanced Policy Based Server Load Balancing for SPAM mitigation and prevention, which filters user messages against numerous policy lists consisting of up to millions of entries. High-performance and easy-to-use policy manager allows real-time management of the user lists for effective SPAM mitigation.
• Highly flexible cookie switching and advanced application health checking for easy integration and customization of enterprise applications like Oracle Application Server and BEA WebLogic Server for maximum availability and efficiency.
• The systems provide transaction rate limiting, DNS filtering, and DNS caching, in addition to load balancing and transparent failover, for a truly mission-critical DNS infrastructure.
• Jumbo frame support for 9K+ Ethernet frames for maximizing application throughput, and hardware-assisted, always-on sFlow network traffic accounting and ACL support on Layer 2/3 and Layer 4-7 traffic flows.

"Layer 4-7 switches are gaining penetration into mission critical applications and helping extend the benefits of security and availability beyond Web applications," said Maximilian Flisi, research analyst at IDC. "Layer 4-7 switching platforms with a combination of application intelligence and high performance are needed to meet the evolving demands of next-generation application infrastructures."

Foundry's ServerIron 450 and 850 Layer 4-7 switches provide sophisticated application traffic and content switching features including server load balancing, URL and cookie based switching, global server load balancing, and transparent cache switching. Some of the world's most demanding customers such as AOL TimeWarner, CheckFree Corporation, NTT DoCoMo, and Wachovia Bank rely on Foundry ServerIron systems for server farm scalability and application security.

ServerIron 450 and 850 switches are available immediately, and ship with the following configurations.

• ServerIron 450: 4-slot chassis with a next-generation Web Switching Management Module (WSM6) and expansion slots for up to three JetCore ASIC-based 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet line cards. Each chassis supports up to 48 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet (Copper and Fiber) ports. Pricing for the ServerIron 450 starts at $34,995 U.S. List.

• ServerIron 850: 8-slot chassis with a next-generation Web Switching Management Module (WSM6) and expansion slots for up to seven JetCore ASIC-based 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet line cards. Each chassis supports up to 144 10/100 and 112 Gigabit Ethernet (copper and fiber) ports. Pricing for the ServerIron 850 starts at $37,995 U.S. List.

The new TrafficWorks enhancements are available in the new premium software version and can be used on the new ServerIron 450/850 switches, and existing ServerIron 100, 400 and 800 systems. Existing customers with support contracts currently using the premium TrafficWorks software can upgrade to the new software at no extra charge.