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Foundry Networks Selected by Top German University for New Campus Backbone

University of Luebeck Deploys Foundry's 10 Gigabit Ethernet and IPv6 Ready Technology to Support New High-Speed Network Infrastructure

LUEBECK/UNTERSCHLEISSHEIM, Germany and SAN JOSE, Calif., Aug. 29 - Foundry Networks(R), Inc. FDRY a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching, routing, and Web traffic management solutions, today announced that it has equipped the University of Luebeck and its Institute for Medical Informatics with a powerful new Layer 3 10 Gigabit Ethernet backbone. The high-speed network is already IPv6 compatible and supports 400 university staff as well as the research work of students in the computing and life sciences faculties.

"As we were constructing a new building for the informatics and medical technology areas, we took the opportunity to install from the outset a partly meshed Layer 3 high-speed network that would fulfill the ambitious requirements of our university while leaving scope for future extensions," said Prof. Dr. Siegfried J. Poppl, Director of the Institute for Medical Informatics and Vice-Dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology. "Following a rigorous evaluation of several offers, we selected the proposal of the Hamburg-based company LAN-Technik GmbH, which was based on network systems from Foundry Networks," adds Christoph Reinecke, a scientific staff member at the Institute for Medical Informatics. "Alongside their first-class technology and their cost-effective solution, we were particularly impressed with their transparent, clearly-defined, and affordable support and escalation structure."

Core Backbone Based On Modular BigIron Switching Technology
The new network's core backbone consists of two BigIron BIMG8 systems each with a throughput of 640 gigabits per second, and five BigIron 15000 and BigIron 8000 systems. In addition, eleven additional BigIron 15000 and NetIron 1500 systems act as routers that are connected to the network core via Gigabit Ethernet. They each supply individual terminals with bandwidth of up to 1 Gigabit per second over fiber optic or copper facilities. The entire network is duplicated and designed for maximum availability. Wire-speed network monitoring is achieved using sFlow, Foundry Networks' hardware-based tool that enables staff to detect viruses, worms, and attacks on the network. All of the implemented systems support both IPv4 and IPv6, underscoring the network's future-proof quality. For its global IPv6 communication, the university network has a 155 Megabit connection to the GWiN, the countrywide scientific network and intranet, with a tunnel to the native IPv6 network configured within the German Research Network.

"We are extremely pleased to be involved with the University of Luebeck's Institute of Medical Informatics decision to deploy Foundry's 10 Gigabit Ethernet technology," notes Bob Schiff, vice president of product marketing at Foundry Networks. "The new 10 Gigabit Ethernet backbone with IPv6 support gives the campus a highly powerful and secure network infrastructure with unmatched stability and availability -- and it can be readily expanded to meet future needs at any time."

Various Extensions Already Planned
The university has already started planning some extensions to its network. For example, the soon-to-be-completed new lecture auditorium with its multimedia laboratory will be connected to the informatics building's backbone.

About the University of Luebeck
The University of Luebeck was created in 1964 as the second medical faculty of the University of Kiel and has been an independent scientific university in the Schleswig-Holstein region since 1973. It is characterized by top-flight research and academic teaching at the intersection between medicine, natural sciences, and technology. Alongside its medical faculty, the University also has a technical and scientific faculty. The 2500 students principally study human medicine, computing, molecular life science and computational life science. The university hospital comprises 21 clinics with a total of 1200 beds and 16 medical institutes. The university and the clinic are one of the Luebeck region's biggest employers with over 5300 staff. For further information, please visit http://www.uni-luebeck.de/universitaet/wirueberuns/profil_englisch.php

About Foundry Networks

Foundry Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FDRY) is a leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing, security and Web traffic management solutions, including Layer 2/3 LAN switches, Layer 3 Backbone switches, Layer 4-7 application switches, wireless LAN and access points, metro routers and core routers. Foundry's customers include the world's premier ISPs, metro service providers, and enterprises, including e-commerce sites, universities, entertainment, health and wellness, government, financial and manufacturing companies. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBOLAN or visit www.foundrynet.com.

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