Axiom Provides the “Pillar” in Foundry’s Infrastructure; Ensuring High Performance, Scalability and Reliability for Oracle and Exchange Applications

Today, Pillar Data Systems, the leading provider of Application-Aware storage systems, announced that Foundry Networks selected the Pillar Axiom™ storage system, as the platform to effectively manage its data and applications in its production and remote environments. With its application-aware approach, Pillar has helped the network provider optimize its applications and streamline its storage environment by standardizing on the Pillar Axiom. The project tightly aligns with core business objectives set by Foundry Networks’ executive management, including safeguarding critical Oracle and Exchange applications.

A leading provider of high-performance enterprise and service provider switching, routing, security, and application traffic management solutions, Foundry required a single platform to manage and store information for its two critical applications, Oracle and Exchange. Foundry’s IT staff also had to combine its strategic business continuity and disaster recovery goals with its IT roadmap, which includes implementing Exchange 2007, a sales force expansion, upgraded business intelligence technology and newly introduced partner programs. Additionally, Foundry was looking for a reliable storage device to provide a secure infrastructure that enabled high availability and performance from its applications.

“Foundry is one step ahead of the industry by aligning IT with corporate objectives, both on a security and application level. While the storage industry has finally been able to begin conquering data growth and scalability, application proliferation and integrity is becoming one of the biggest headaches for IT administrators,” said Bob Maness, vice president of worldwide marketing, Pillar Data Systems. “We are pleased that Foundry chose to standardize on Pillar to ensure its application uptime and performance. We look forward to continue working with them to satisfy all of their storage needs.”

Foundry chose Pillar for its ability to optimize application performance and uptime and system reliability, which lowered total cost of ownership by 20 percent against competing vendors. With the objective to build an efficient, centralized infrastructure, the network provider standardized on Pillar to manage all of its production and test data.

“As Foundry continues to grow, our customers are continuously demanding more applications and data services, and if you don’t have a solid, efficient infrastructure, you won’t meet expected service levels. Pillar provided the lynchpin we need deliver the highest levels of application performance, data protection and measurable ROI for the company,” said David Riley, CIO of Foundry Networks. “I have a great comfort level with Pillar, knowing that the Axiom is designed to optimize my multiple applications, while driving down storage costs through greater efficiency.”

About Pillar Data Systems

Founded in 2001, Pillar Data Systems develops Application-Aware Storage systems for midsize and enterprise organizations. With the highest utilization rates in the storage industry, the Pillar Axiom solution is the most efficient storage system on the market today. The Pillar Axiom cuts administrative time and total cost of ownership by more than 50 percent as well as provides the only storage system that can differentiate services based on application priority. Designed from the ground up as the only true Application-Aware Storage system, the Pillar Axiom allows users to match multiple application characteristics to the appropriate service levels within a single storage platform. Pillar Data Systems is privately funded by Tako Ventures, LLC, the venture arm of Larry Ellison. The company is headquartered at 2840 Junction Avenue, San Jose, California 95134. The company can be reached on the Web at http://www.pillardata.com, by phone at 408-503-4000 or by email at sales@pillardata.com.

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 routers 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.