Force10
Encyclopedia
Force10 Networks is a United States
company which develops and markets 10 Gigabit
and 100 Gigabit
Ethernet
switches
for computer network
ing to corporate, educational, and governmental customers. It has offices in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.
In 2011 Dell
announced that they have reached agreement to buy Force10. In August 2011, Dell completed the acquisition of Force10 and changed the name to Dell Force10.
, after Beaufort Force 10 (Storm, Whole gale) 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.
In 2009, Force10 merged with Turin Networks, which had previously purchased Carrier Access Corporation and White Rock Networks. Carrier Access Corporation itself had previously purchased Mangrove Systems and White Rock Networks had previously purchased Seranoa Networks.
On July 20, 2011 Dell announced it intended to fully acquire Force10 for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition Dell offers a complete range of products for the datacentre
In 2007 it was actively working on 100 Gigabit Ethernet Switching.
Force10 Networks uses NetBSD
as the underlying operating system that powers FTOS (the Force10 Operating System). Force10 made a donation to the NetBSD Foundation in 2007 to help further research and the open development community.
, Zynga
, Level3, TATA Communications (formerly VSNL, Teleglobe), Mzima Networks
, Stealth Communications, Yahoo!
, isoHunt
, Sega
, NYSE Euronext, Veritas DGC, Equinix, CERN
, NOAA, University College London Networks Research Group, and the Baylor College of Medicine.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
company which develops and markets 10 Gigabit
10 Gigabit Ethernet
The 10 gigabit Ethernet computer networking standard was first published in 2002. It defines a version of Ethernet with a nominal data rate of 10 Gbit/s , ten times faster than gigabit Ethernet.10 gigabit Ethernet defines only full duplex point to point links which are generally connected by...
and 100 Gigabit
100 Gigabit Ethernet
40 Gigabit Ethernet, or 40GbE, and 100 Gigabit Ethernet, or 100GbE, are high-speed computer network standards developed by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers . They support sending Ethernet frames at 40 and 100 gigabits per second over multiple 10 Gbit/s or 25 Gbit/s lanes...
Ethernet
Ethernet
Ethernet is a family of computer networking technologies for local area networks commercially introduced in 1980. Standardized in IEEE 802.3, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies....
switches
Network switch
A network switch or switching hub is a computer networking device that connects network segments.The term commonly refers to a multi-port network bridge that processes and routes data at the data link layer of the OSI model...
for computer network
Computer network
A computer network, often simply referred to as a network, is a collection of hardware components and computers interconnected by communication channels that allow sharing of resources and information....
ing to corporate, educational, and governmental customers. It has offices in North America, Europe, and the Asia Pacific region.
In 2011 Dell
Dell
Dell, Inc. is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest...
announced that they have reached agreement to buy Force10. In August 2011, Dell completed the acquisition of Force10 and changed the name to Dell Force10.
History
The company was founded by PK Dubey, Naresh Nigam and Som Sikdar. It was named by founder Som Sikdar, an avid sailorSailor
A sailor, mariner, or seaman is a person who navigates water-borne vessels or assists in their operation, maintenance, or service. The term can apply to professional mariners, military personnel, and recreational sailors as well as a plethora of other uses...
, after Beaufort Force 10 (Storm, Whole gale) on the Beaufort scale
Beaufort scale
The Beaufort Scale is an empirical measure that relates wind speed to observed conditions at sea or on land. Its full name is the Beaufort Wind Force Scale.-History:...
for wind speeds, indicating a storm with high speed winds, and matched their focus on 10 Gigabit Ethernet
10 Gigabit Ethernet
The 10 gigabit Ethernet computer networking standard was first published in 2002. It defines a version of Ethernet with a nominal data rate of 10 Gbit/s , ten times faster than gigabit Ethernet.10 gigabit Ethernet defines only full duplex point to point links which are generally connected by...
switching and routing products.
In 2009, Force10 merged with Turin Networks, which had previously purchased Carrier Access Corporation and White Rock Networks. Carrier Access Corporation itself had previously purchased Mangrove Systems and White Rock Networks had previously purchased Seranoa Networks.
On July 20, 2011 Dell announced it intended to fully acquire Force10 for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition Dell offers a complete range of products for the datacentre
Products
In January, 2002, Force10 released the E-Series E1200 switch/router, claiming line-rate 10 Gigabit Ethernet switching. Force10 Networks hoped to expand from LAN switching to midsize data centers and enterprise campus networks. The Force10 product portfolio included 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.
Force10 Networks uses NetBSD
NetBSD
NetBSD is a freely available open source version of the Berkeley Software Distribution Unix operating system. It was the second open source BSD descendant to be formally released, after 386BSD, and continues to be actively developed. The NetBSD project is primarily focused on high quality design,...
as the underlying operating system that powers FTOS (the Force10 Operating System). Force10 made a donation to the NetBSD Foundation in 2007 to help further research and the open development community.
Customers
Force10 customers include enterprises in 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 FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
, Zynga
Zynga
Zynga is a social network game developer located in San Francisco, United States. The company develops browser-based games that work both stand-alone and as application widgets on social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace....
, Level3, TATA Communications (formerly VSNL, Teleglobe), Mzima Networks
Mzima Networks
The MZIMA Network is a global data network and Internet Protocol backbone extending across the United States, Europe and Asia. This specialized network incorporates the Provider Backbone Bridge Traffic Engineering networking standard which adapts Ethernet technology to carrier class networks...
, Stealth Communications, Yahoo!
Yahoo!
Yahoo! Inc. is an American multinational internet corporation headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, United States. The company is perhaps best known for its web portal, search engine , Yahoo! Directory, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Answers, advertising, online mapping ,...
, isoHunt
IsoHunt
isoHunt is a BitTorrent index with over 1.7 million torrents in its database and 20 million peers from indexed torrents. With 7.4 million unique visitors , isoHunt is one of the most popular BitTorrent search engines. Thousands of torrents are added to and deleted from it every day. Users of...
, Sega
Sega
, usually styled as SEGA, is a multinational video game software developer and an arcade software and hardware development company headquartered in Ōta, Tokyo, Japan, with various offices around the world...
, NYSE Euronext, Veritas DGC, Equinix, CERN
CERN
The European Organization for Nuclear Research , known as CERN , is an international organization whose purpose is to operate the world's largest particle physics laboratory, which is situated in the northwest suburbs of Geneva on the Franco–Swiss border...
, NOAA, University College London Networks Research Group, and the Baylor College of Medicine.