SANTA CLARA, Calif. and TOKYO, Aug. 26, 2008 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Foundry Networks(r), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced its continued commitment to the Japanese networking market with the appointment of Masakazu Aoba as country manager for enterprise and service provider sales in Japan. Mr. Aoba is responsible for leading Japan's sales organization and will be collaborating with the executive management team to drive revenue growth, strategic vision, and direction for enterprise and service provider sales through the company's channels.
"Japan is a key market Foundry has been committed to for more than 11 years," said Bobby Johnson, president and CEO for Foundry Networks. "Mr. Aoba's sales development expertise will be an important asset for Foundry as we continue to deliver new product innovations and strengthen the strategic relationships we have with our channel partners, and large enterprise and service provider end-users."
Mr. Aoba accumulated many significant successes in IT networking solutions sales, both directly and indirectly, with enterprises and service providers. Prior to joining Foundry, Mr. Aoba had 14 years of technical and sales management experience with Cisco Systems where he built its commercial sales organization from the ground up and drove substantial revenue growth within the Japanese market. Additionally, Mr. Aoba spent 10 years at IBM Japan in senior engineering roles where he architected and deployed new data networks for large enterprises.
"I am excited Mr. Aoba has accepted this leadership position on Foundry's sales team," said Woody Akin, senior vice president, worldwide sales for Foundry Networks. "His proven track record of creating and managing sales teams will not only help increase Foundry's market share, but also position the company for significant growth opportunities in the future."
"It is an honor to be part of a respected and innovative networking company," said Aoba. "My goal, in my new role, is to reinforce Foundry's commitment to partners and customers while effectively growing the company's customer footprint and recognition throughout the region."
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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