SANTA CLARA, Calif., Jan. 8, 2008 (PRIME NEWSWIRE) -- Foundry Networks(r), Inc. (Nasdaq:FDRY), a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing, and Sharp HealthCare, San Diego's largest regional integrated health care delivery system, today announced Foundry's(tm) selection for a edge-to-core networking solution. Sharp's installation included Foundry's NetIron(r) core routers, FastIron(r) Power over Ethernet (PoE) ready edge and aggregation switches and ServerIron(r) application delivery switches.
Sharp is an undisputed leader in the health care industry and was recently awarded a 2007 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award by President George W. Bush and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez. The nation's highest presidential honor for quality and organizational performance excellence, the Baldrige Award was given to only five recipients for 2007. In addition to the Baldrige Award, Sharp was named one of the "100 Most Wired" health care systems for the ninth consecutive year by Hospital and Health Networks magazine and the number one integrated health care provider in California for the sixth consecutive year by Modern Healthcare magazine. As the largest non-military employer in San Diego County, Sharp HealthCare is San Diego's leading not-for-profit comprehensive health care system and encompasses four acute care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, three affiliated medical groups, a health plan, and other community health education programs and related services.
Due to the life saving critical applications and information the entire staff relies upon on a 24x7x365 basis, Sharp required a networking solution that provided redundancy, resilience, and increased performance. To fulfill these requirements, Sharp relies on the NetIron MLX-8 core routers, ServerIronGT application delivery switches for load balancing, FastIron SuperX(tm) Series for their server farm/aggregation, and FastIron Edge X Series, GS Series, LS Series and SuperX Series for PoE VoIP and edge capabilities. Foundry's redundant hardware provided them zero network downtime with such processes as hitless core upgrades and feature additions on the core platforms. This allows Sharp's staff to continue using crucial medical programs, business applications and information access even while upgrades or maintenance is performed on network components. In addition to core network benefits, Foundry's FastIron hardware has provided visibility at the edge of their network through sFlow(r) for preventative immediate issue identification and has decreased backup times due to line rate throughput.
"Exceeding patient expectations and providing an exceptional health care experience for our patients, patient's families, physicians, nurses, and support staff are primary goals," said William A. Spooner, senior vice president and CIO for Sharp HealthCare. "As a health care and technology leader, Sharp is committed to implementing technology that not only lowers total cost of ownership, but improves information access and empowers employees to provide the highest levels of medical care and support. Foundry's excellent sales and support staff clearly understood that the performance and reliability of our network is a cornerstone in these important endeavors. They have provided a high-performance networking solution encompassing core routers, load balancing, to edge switches that remains resilient, scalable, while lowering total cost of ownership in order to achieve these goals."
"Sharp HealthCare is a clear nationwide leader in implementing technology to improve not only their patient care and services, but to bolster their overall IT infrastructure and reduce costs while increasing performance and scalability," said Bob Schiff, vice president and general manager for Foundry's Enterprise Business Unit. "Their prestigious 2007 Baldrige Award is clear recognition of their commitment to the highest quality patient care and confirms how information technology is an essential component of that success. We congratulate Sharp and look forward to continuing to provide them best-of-breed networking technology, from the edge to the core, to strengthen their continued technology and health care leadership."
About Sharp HealthCare
Ranked as the number-one integrated health care system in California by Modern Healthcare, Sharp HealthCare is San Diego's most comprehensive health care delivery system. It is recognized for clinical excellence for services in cardiac, cancer, and multiorgan transplantation, as well as orthopaedics, rehabilitation, behavioral health and women's health. The Sharp system includes four acute-care hospitals, three specialty hospitals, three affiliated medical groups and a health plan. To learn more about Sharp, visit www.sharp.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 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. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBOLAN or visit www.foundrynet.com.
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