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DAILY NEWS AND INFORMATION
FOR THE GLOBAL GRID COMMUNITY /
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Systems/Enterprise:
FORCE10 NETWORKS, IBM SIGN
MULTI-TIERED, WORLDWIDE AGREEMENT
Force10 Networks Inc announced that IBM and Force10 have signed a worldwide
partnership agreement whereby IBM will resell the E-Series E1200/600 high
density Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet product family. In addition, IBM
Global Services will provide end-to-end support for the E-Series
switch/routers -- including consulting, implementation and technical
assistance center (TAC) support -- for enterprise customers worldwide.
"IBM is driving the benefits of Grid computing beyond its academic and
research roots and into business enterprises in key industries such as
financial markets, life sciences, aerospace, automotive and governments, to
name a few," said Thomas A. Knapp, Linux practice principal at IBM. "We have
the knowledge and experience to build Linux clusters with large numbers of
nodes using IBM technology and are always evaluating innovative Ethernet
products. We deployed Force10's E-Series in several Grid computing projects.
We are pleased with the performance, scalability, reliability and software
stability offered by the E-Series platform and will resell them in density and
performance-sensitive applications."
"The E-Series has connected hundreds of nodes containing IBM servers and
storage systems in numerous Grids over the past year," said Marc Randall,
president and CEO, Force10 Networks. "We have been able to demonstrate high
availability performance and the ability to scale network capacity to meet the
high standards set by IBM and its customers. We believe that Force10 is well
positioned to serve the Grid/clustering needs of Fortune 500 companies by
combining best-in-class technology with the proven customer support delivered
by IBM -- the world's largest information technology services provider."
Force10 Networks E-Series is purpose-built for high performance Grid,
clustering and utility computing applications. Grids allow geographically
distributed organizations to share applications, data and high capacity
computing resources. The network fabric that connects the vast number of
computing and storage resources plays a critical role in successful operation
of the Grid. The E-Series addresses these requirements by offering ultra high
density, line-rate Gigabit and 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching and routing
ports, along with a platform the delivers high availability as well as modular
software stability.
Force10 Networks and IBM also entered a manufacturing partnership whereby
IBM
builds the EtherScale ASICs used within the E-Series platform. In addition,
Force10 augments the E-Series system with IBM's PowerPC processors. Together,
IBM and Force10 deliver high density, high performance solutions, from
networking infrastructure through deployment and on to frontline support.
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