SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 16, 2007 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Foundry Networks(r), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, today announced that the ServerIron(r) family of application delivery switches support secure load balancing for Web conferencing, Voice over IP (VoIP), audio/video conferencing and instant messaging services running on Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007. Foundry's ServerIron application delivery switches, with their networking and application intelligence, provide enterprise customers, using Office Communications Server 2007, rich features and high performance required to improve the efficiency and uptime in their unified communications services.
"Unified communications will become business critical for most enterprises going forward and our customers look to us for scalable and highly secure application delivery solutions that offer some of the most advanced capabilities," said Bob Schiff, vice president and general manager for Foundry's Enterprise Business Unit. "By working with Microsoft, we feel confident that Foundry's ServerIron application delivery switches will provide users of Office Communications Server 2007 with enhanced performance scalability, high availability and security enhancements without compromising any functionality and quality."
"The combination of Microsoft's unified communications software and ServerIron switches provides a powerful new way for people to collaborate while taking the complexity out of communications," said Yancey Smith, group marketing manager, Unified Communications Group, at Microsoft Corp. "ServerIron complements the features in Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, powering communication across the applications, networks and devices businesses already know and use."
According to Gartner, end-user spending on application acceleration equipment is expected to reach approximately $3.7 billion by the end of 2008. As IP applications become the business foundation for most organizations, including smaller enterprises, e-commerce sites and service providers, there is a growing demand for cost-effective load balancing and security solutions to maintain always-on services with optimized performance in the data center and server farm. With the purpose-built features of the ServerIron family, enterprises will see significant improvement in the performance and uptime of their critical Office Communications Server 2007 applications and services.
"Foundry Networks is expanding the reach of the ServerIron product line by participating in certification programs with Microsoft," said Steven Schuchart, principal analyst, Enterprise Network Systems for Current Analysis. "Application acceleration products are becoming more and more focused on specific applications and this partnership for Office Communications Server 2007 is good for current Foundry customers and will draw new potential customers to consider the ServerIron product line."
Office Communications Server 2007 builds on the foundation of presence and instant messaging, federated communications and remote call control. Key new features include a number of enhancements to instant messaging and presence capability such as integration with Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 distribution lists as well as the addition of software-powered VoIP, allowing users to make, receive and manage VoIP calls using Office Communications Server 2007 running on their computer and multi-party on-premises audio/video and Web conferencing. Office Communications Server 2007 also supports the ICE framework of protocols, allowing users to take advantage of these communications capabilities from wherever they are without needing to establish a VPN connection.
Load balancing technology has become a feature of choice to improve the scalability, availability and security of IP applications. Foundry ServerIron application delivery switches, with their networking and application intelligence, provide rich features and high performance required for building massively scalable and highly secure application infrastructure.
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.
The Foundry Networks, Inc. logo is available at http://www.primenewswire.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=2756
Safe Harbor Statement
The foregoing may contain "forward-looking statements" which are based on management's current information and beliefs as well as on a number of assumptions concerning future events made by management. These forward-looking statements include, without limitation, statements by Gartner, executives or spokespeople regarding Foundry's ServerIron family, positioning, capabilities, potential plans, and spending for application acceleration products. The forward-looking statements in this press release are only predictions and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ materially. Foundry assumes no obligation to update the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. Furthermore, no statements made by Foundry Networks, Inc. ("Foundry") in this press release, or information contained herein, may be deemed to constitute either an amendment of an existing agreement or an implied new commitment, promise or legal obligation by Foundry to develop or deliver any specific product, feature or functionality.
All product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.