Renowned Scientific Research Institute GSI Utilizes Foundry to Power Particle Accelerator HPC Network

Foundry HPC Solution Provides An Unprecedented Combination of Wire-Speed
Networking and Industry-Leading Scale for Efficiency and Value 

SANTA CLARA, Calif. and DARMSTADT, Germany, Dec. 10, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
Foundry Networks(r), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions
leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced the German-based
Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI) selected its high-performance
computing (HPC) networking solution for its a uncompromised performance,
efficiency and value. Foundry's 10 gigabit Ethernet (10GbE) switching solution
for the GSI's particle accelerator network and facility allows wire-speed
handling of the enormous volume of data resulting from experiments with the
GSI's own revolutionary particle accelerator and with the Large Hadron Collider
at CERN in Geneva. 

Established in 1969, the goal of the scientific research conducted at the GSI
is to understand the structure and behavior of the world that surrounds us. The
GSI operates a world-leading accelerator facility for heavy-ion beams, used for
fundamental research. At the GSI, over 300 scientific researchers and engineers
and more than 1000 guest researchers per year, from around the world, conduct
research into areas ranging from nuclear and atomic physics to plasma and
materials research as well as biophysics and cancer therapy. By leveraging
Foundry's performance-focused switches, the GSI is able to efficiently
transport and process data from the collisions of subatomic particles on about
2,500 processing cores with computing power of 20 teraflops. The input and
results data are stored on about 70 servers with a capacity of 700 terabytes. 

The GSI decided on Foundry's high-performance networking solution to ensure
congestion-free communication for its large group of computing and data nodes.
Foundry's BigIron(r) RX-32 Layer 2/3 backbone switch was capable of fulfilling
these extreme switching capacity demands through industry-leading port density.
The switch delivers maximum flexibility and throughput, with up to 1,536 ports
of GbE or 128-ports of 10GbE in a single chassis at wire-speed. The research
institute is also extending its existing HPC network with Foundry's FastIron(r)
Edge X and FastIron SuperX(tm)/SX Layer 2/3 switches while expanding several
links to 10 gigabit Ethernet. 

With the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, the GSI is leading the scientific
program concerning heavy ion experiment known as 'A Large Ion Collider
Experiment' (ALICE). To cope with the large quantities of data produced by this
program, the GSI participated in the construction of World Wide Grid, an
evolution of the World Wide Web. The GSI's data center is an established part
of the Grid for analyzing data from ALICE. GSI staff expects that data volumes
will reach approximately two million gigabytes per year, or the equivalent of
about 3 million CDs. 

"GSI is a high-technology institution that puts extremely challenging demands
on its network," said Dr. Mathias Munch, responsible for the IT infrastructure
at the GSI. "Foundry Networks' advanced switching technology is able to meet
our unique performance needs. We've also been very satisfied with the support
services provided by Foundry Networks and our system integrator Pan Dacom." 

"We are pleased that the GSI has selected Foundry's incomparable
industry-leading HPC solution to help advance important particle research,"
said Ken Cheng, vice president and general manager of Foundry's High-End and
Service Provider Systems Business Unit. "The solution's unprecedented density,
scalability and wire-speed capabilities will help maximize the power of the HPC
network while allowing class-leading total cost of ownership and energy and
space efficiency." 

About Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung

The Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI) in Darmstadt is a center for
fundamental research and is financed by the German state and the Land of
Hessen. It is a member of the Helmholtz Association. The mission of the 1050
staff is to construct and operate accelerator facilities as well as conduct
research on heavy ions. Every year, more than 1,000 guest scientists come to
the GSI, which gives them access to its research facilities. GSI operates a
large, in many aspects worldwide unique accelerator facility for heavy-ion
beams. The research program at GSI covers a broad range of activities extending
from nuclear and atomic physics to plasma and materials research to biophysics
and cancer therapy. Probably the best-known results are the discovery of six
new chemical elements and the development of a new type of tumor therapy using
ion beams. With these and multiple other results, GSI has a leading position
internationally in ion beam research. GSI physicists, together with scientists
from universities and research institutes in Germany and abroad, are building a
new international accelerator Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR),
planned for completion in 2015. A broad spectrum of scientific areas will be
addressed at the new facility, including hitherto unsolved questions about the
structure of matter and the evolution of the universe. Further information is
available at http://www.gsi.de/portrait/index_e.html 

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
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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http://www.globenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2756 

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