Foundry Networks 4Q Profit Jumps

Foundry Networks 4th-Quarter Profit, Sales Jump

"NEW YORK (Associated Press) - Networking equipment maker Foundry Networks Inc. said Tuesday its fourth-quarter profit jumped 84 percent, helped by growing sales to communications service providers and the U.S. government.

Foundry's shares nonetheless fell in after-hours trading.

The company earned $28.9 million, or 18 cents per share, up from $15.7 million, or 10 cents per share, a year earlier. Excluding stock option costs and other items, the company earned 24 cents per share in the latest quarter.

Revenue rose 28 percent to $168.7 million from $132 million.

Analysts, on average, were expecting a profit of 23 cents per share, excluding stock option costs, on sales of $166.1 million, according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Banc of America Securities analyst Tim Long had expected Foundry's results to beat his expectations of a profit of 24 cents per share.

For the full year, Foundry earned $81.1 million, or 52 cents per share, up from $38.7 million, or 26 cents per share, a year earlier.

Revenue rose 28 percent to $607.2 million from $473.3 million.

The company been diversifying its federal government business, increasing its reach into the service provider market and expanding its share of the enterprise market, Bobby Johnson, president and chief executive, said in a statement.

Shares fell 92 cents, or 6.2 percent, to $14 in after-hours electronic trading. The stock had closed up 52 cents, or 3.6 percent, at $14.92 in the regular session. "

Perhaps your IT guy has finally realized Cisco 'aint the only game in town. Or, maybe Foundry's BI-RX-32 has started turning heads. Either way the race just heated up and we've got a front row seat!

Serveriron just got easier

Foundry Networks Enhances Usability And Eases Manageability For The ServerIron Family Of Application Delivery Switches

Serveriron just got easier

“(Foundry) announced advanced stateful UDP-based Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) load balancing for Voice over IP (VoIP) solutions, role-based user management tool, and enhanced graphical user interface (GUI) for its award-winning modular- and chassis-based ServerIron® family of application delivery switches….”

What does this mean? With the release of Trafficworks Release 10.2 (TW10.2), Foundry further increased the ease with with you can control application access and maintain greater network security with a simplified and intuitive role-based management system. Sweet.

Juniper leaps into switching market

Vendor has Cisco in its sights as it adds to its portfolio with three new series of Ethernet switches

Doug Woodburn, CRN 29 Jan 2008

Juniper Networks has thrown down the gauntlet to rivals Cisco, HP ProCurve and Foundry by announcing its entry into the $4bn Ethernet switching market.

The networking and security vendor’s new EX-series family of enterprise switches comes in three forms: the EX 3200 series; the EX 4200 series; and the modular EX 8200 series. All run on Juniper’s carrier-class Junos software.

According to the blurb, Juniper’s new switches will deliver “the operation simplicity, carrier-class reliability and infrastructure consolidation and integration that help high-performance businesses accelerate the deployment of business-enabling applications and services across the network”.

Hitesh Sheth, executive vice president and general manager of the Ethernet
Platforms Business Group at Juniper, said: “For many enterprises, legacy network infrastructure has become a pacing factor in meeting their high-performance business requirements.

“Enterprises can no longer afford the complexity, cost and risk of turning on new network features for fear of taking down the network. Through the introduction of our high-performance family of Ethernet switches based on Junos software,
Juniper is delivering a solution that meets the business, economic and technical requirements of today's service-enabling network infrastructure.”

The EX 3200 and 4200 series – whose list prices start at $4,000 and $6,000 respectively - are expected to be available in March. The EX 8200 series is expected to be available in the second half.