Force10

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Force10 Networks, formerly nCore Networks, is an American company which develops and markets high density 10 Gigabit and 100 Gigabit Ethernet network infrastructure equipment to a variety of corporate, educational, and governmental enterprises. It has offices in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.

The company was named by founder Som Sikhdar, an avid sailor, after Force 10 on the Beaufort scale for wind speeds, indicating a storm with high speed winds, and matched their focus on 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching and routing products.

1 Products
2 Customers
3 External links
4 Footnotes

[edit] Products

In January, 2002, Force10 released the E-Series E1200 switch/router; at the time, it was the first in the industry to provide line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching. Force10 Networks is hoping to leverage its reputation for high performance and high reliability in high-end LAN switching to gain a foothold in midsize data centers and enterprise campus networks. The Force10 product portfolio now includes the E-Series family of switch/routers,the C300 switch, the S-Series family of access switches and the P-Series security appliances.

In 2007 it was actively working on 100 Gigabit Ethernet Switching.^[1]

Force10 Networks uses NetBSD as the underlying operating system that powers FTOS (the Force10 Operating System).^[2] Force10 also made a donation to the NetBSD Foundation in 2007 to help further research and the open development community.^[3]

[edit] Customers

Force10 customers include enterprises in vertical industries such as media, financial services, oil and gas, Web 2.0 and gaming. Service providers, including Internet exchanges, wholesale providers, cable operators, and content delivery providers. Force10 customers include Yahoo!, Sega, Veritas DGC, Equinix, CERN, NOAA, and the Baylor College of Medicine.^[4]

In 2006, Force10 Networks ranked second in total market share of 10 Gigabit Ethernet equipment.^[5]