Press Release: Force10 Networks uses NetBSD to build Software Scalability into FTOS Operating System

NEW YORK CITY, February 12, 2007: The NetBSD Foundation today announced that Force10 Networks®, the pioneer in building and securing high performance networks, has leveraged NetBSD® as the foundation for the Force10 Operating System (FTOS). Based on the open source UNIX-like system, FTOS provides the software scalability and resiliency that powers the Force10 TeraScale E-Series® family of switch/routers.

"Our customers require a high level of scalability and resiliency to build networks that can expand as new applications are added while maintaining predictable performance," said Sachi Sambandan, vice president of engineering at Force10 Networks. "The unique kernel structure of NetBSD allows us to provide our customers with a best-in-class software architecture that supports carrier class resiliency and accelerates development of new features."

As a UNIX-like operating system, NetBSD provides unparalleled protocol maturity and stability. Process modularization allows control plane functions to be separated and given fair CPU scheduling while memory protection minimizes corruption across process boundaries. Together, these two features enable Force10 to provide its customers with a high performance, fault tolerant system that isolates switching, routing and management functionalities from each other in a multi-processor control plane architecture. Additionally, NetBSD supports 17 microprocessor families, enabling a high degree of portability that allows Force10 to easily port FTOS across multiple hardware architectures.

"Industry leading networking companies recognize that system scalability and resiliency are built upon a secure, solid yet portable software foundation," said Alistair Crooks, president of the NetBSD Foundation. "We're delighted with Force 10's endorsement of NetBSD as the basis of its high performance operating system, which will result in benefits for both organizations."

The Force10 TeraScale E-Series provides leading resiliency and scalability. Based on a system architecture that distributes switching, routing and management functionalities between three distinct processors, the TeraScale E-Series protects against unplanned network downtime. Additionally, fully redundant power supplies, processor modules and switching fabrics guarantee maximum uptime.

NetBSD is a general-purpose Open Source operating system that provides interfaces for a wide range of applications on a big number of different hardware platforms, all from one source tree. Applications can range from proprietary closed source applications to Open Source software that are made available easily through the NetBSD Packages Collection, pkgsrc. The NetBSD operating system has a special focus on providing its application platform on a large number of hardware platforms, ranging from vintage hardware to modern desktop, server and embedded hardware. Visit our webpage at www.NetBSD.org for more information.

Force10 Networks is the pioneer in building and securing high performance networks. Based on a revolutionary system architecture that delivers best-in-class resiliency and massive scalability, Force10s TeraScale E-Series switch/routers ensure predictable application performance, increase network availability, and reduce operating costs. Today, many of the worlds largest Gigabit Ethernet and 10 Gigabit Ethernet networks depend on Force10 Networks. For additional information, please visit www.force10networks.com.

Force10 Networks and E-Series are registered trademarks, and P-Series, S-Series, TeraScale and FTOS are trademarks of Force10 Networks, Inc. All other company names are trademarks of their respective holders.

NetBSD and pkgsrc are registered trademarks of The NetBSD Foundation.