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Extreme Networks Advances Metro Ethernet Services Platform

Posted on: Monday, 21 June 2004, 06:00 CDT

SANTA CLARA, Calif., June 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Extreme Networks, Inc. is offering Metro Ethernet service providers with a cost-effective solution for building "triple play" networks to support voice, video and data on one network. The Company is adding advanced traffic management capabilities to its Metro Ethernet Service Platform. The new traffic management function works in conjunction with Extreme Networks' innovative scalability features, including Hierarchical-Virtual Private LAN Services (H-VPLS), and unique resiliency capabilities, such as Ethernet Automatic Protection Switching version two (EAPS v2) to allow Metro providers to maximize revenue by supporting the delivery of a wide variety of services on their network.

Metro service providers have only been able to connect Ethernet access networks together with Layer 3 MPLS routers. This solution is very costly and has limited scalability potential. The high cost and limited scalability prohibit the service provider from expanding their Ethernet networks and improve customer service.

"Extreme's innovative approach to scaling Metro Ethernet networks leverages Layer 2 MPLS technology that has a higher performance at a dramatically lower price point," said Craig Easley, director of Metro Ethernet Networks marketing for Extreme Networks. "Our expertise in delivering high performance networks that offer market leading resiliency and scalability give Metro Service providers an advantage in a very competitive market."

Advanced Metro Ethernet Services

Extreme Networks' advanced Metro Ethernet Services address the three key areas that Metro Ethernet service providers must address to successfully deliver the "triple-play" voice, video and data network services:

-- Advanced Traffic Management:

Extreme Network Metro Ethernet Service Platforms have been enhanced with the addition of advanced traffic management including bi-direction bandwidth control and hierarchical quality of service. Extreme's hardware-based traffic management approach implements these features at wire-speed without impacting the performance of the network. In addition, the new traffic management features give Metro service providers the ability support the "triple-play" of voice, video and data on their Metro Ethernet networks. Advanced traffic management over Ethernet enables providers to offer a rich set of converged services to both commercial and residential subscribers.

-- Metro Scalability:

To offer the "triple-play" services over Ethernet Metro networks, providers need to support large-scale Ethernet deployments. Extreme Networks has a proven record in scaling the Metro network beyond the limitation of 4K VLANs with an innovations called VMAN or "QinQ". VMANs overcome the Ethernet addressing limitation of 4000 VLANs by providing a mechanism for encapsulating the subscriber's VLAN tag(s) inside a provider assigned tag.

Recently, service providers' networks have grown in size and they are seeking increased scalability. The most recent enhancement to Extreme Networks' scalability technology is support for Hierarchical L2 VPNs based upon the H-VPLS specification. H-VPLS allows Metro Ethernet service providers to build networks capable of supporting an unlimited number of subscribers by mapping subscriber IDs (VLANs) to Label Switched Path (LSPs) in the MPLS network. Used in conjunction with VLAN and VMAN subscriber addressing schemes, H-VPLS provides Metro Ethernet service providers a smooth way to expand their networks to support a growing base of subscribers.

-- Ethernet Resiliency:

Along with advanced traffic management and scalability features for Metro Ethernet, Extreme Networks has introduced innovations to improve the resiliency of Ethernet with protection mechanisms, including EAPS, a ring based protection mechanism able to deliver SONET-like performance for Ethernet networks. EAPS v2 greatly enhances the capabilities of this important technology with improved performance. The fail-over performance of EAPS v2 has been improved to provide recovery in less than 50ms when a cable cut or equipment failure causes in interruption on an Ethernet ring. Along with the enhanced performance, EAPS v2 has been extended to support a variety of complex network topologies. EAPS v2 now supports dual attached rings, as well as sub-tended rings giving Metro Ethernet service providers greater flexibility for protecting a broad number of network architectures and topologies.

The traffic management and EAPS V2 features are available with ExtremeWare release 7.3 in July 2004 on the- Summit(R) fixed configuration switch, and Alpine(R), and BlackDiamond(R) 6800 chassis switching solutions. H-VPLS is supported on the BlackDiamond 6800 switch.

Demonstration at Supercomm 2004 Show

Extreme Networks is demonstrating these new advanced Metro Ethernet features at the Supercomm 2004 show, June 22-24, Chicago, in Metro Ethernet Forum, #20736.

Extreme Networks, Inc. Extreme Networks delivers an effective applications and services infrastructure by creating networks that are faster, less complex and more cost-effective. Headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif., Extreme Networks sells it awarding-winning switching solutions in more than 50 countries. For more information, visit http://www.extremenetworks.com/ .

Extreme Networks, Summit, Alpine and BlackDiamond, are registered trademarks of Extreme Networks, Inc., registered in the United States and other countries.

This press release may contain forward-looking statements. In this press release, words including, for example, "believes,""expects,""anticipates,""estimates" or similar phrases identify such forward-looking statements. Because such statements deal with future events, they are subject to risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to: fluctuations in demand for our products and services; a highly competitive business environment for network switching equipment; the possibility that we might experience delays in the development of new technology and products; customer response to our new technology and product; and a dependency on third parties for certain components and for the manufacturing of our products. We undertake no obligation to update the forward-looking information in this release. Other important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are contained in the Company's 10-Qs and 10-Ks which are on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission http://www.sec.gov/ .

Extreme Networks, Inc.

CONTACT: Valerie Bellofatto of Extreme Networks Public Relations,+1-408-579-2963 or vbellofatto@extremenetworks.com

Web site: http://www.extremenetworks.com/

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