Foundry Networks

Foundry Networks, Inc.

Company type	Public (until acquisition)
Industry	Networking equipment
Predecessor	Perennium Networks, StarRidge Networks
Founded	1996 (1996) in Santa Clara, California, U.S.
Founder	Bobby R. Johnson, Jr.
Defunct	December 18, 2008 (2008-12-18)
Fate	Acquired by Brocade Communications Systems
Successor	Brocade Communications Systems
Headquarters	Santa Clara , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Bobby R. Johnson, Jr. (Founder)
Products	Ethernet switches and routers, wireless solutions, security products, traffic management systems
Parent	Brocade Communications Systems (from 2008)

Foundry Networks, Inc. was a provider of networking equipment focused on premium Ethernet switches and routers. On December 18, 2008, Brocade Communications Systems completed its acquisition of the company.

History

Established in 1996 by Bobby R. Johnson, Jr., Foundry Networks was based in Santa Clara, California. Initially, the company operated under the names Perennium Networks and StarRidge Networks before settling on Foundry Networks in January 1997. The firm went public in 1999 amid the Internet boom, reaching a market capitalization of $9 billion on its debut day on NASDAQ under the ticker FDRY.

Foundry developed, produced, and marketed switches and routers for enterprise and service provider markets, along with wireless solutions, security products, and traffic management systems. It was an innovator in Layer 2 and Layer 3 Ethernet switching technologies, introducing the first gigabit Ethernet switch and Layer 3 switch in 1997, launching the initial Layer 4-7 Application Delivery Controller in 1998, and incorporating 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports by 2001.

The early product portfolio included Workgroup, Backbone, and ServerIron lines; subsequent expansions featured TurboIron (covering all Gigabit Ethernet switches and routers), BigIron, EdgeIron, FastIron, IronPoint, NetIron, SecureIron, and ServerIron. Modular chassis designs progressed from BigIron to the Mucho Grande (MG) series and RX series (offering between 4 to 32 slots), culminating with the full rack-sized XMR switch/router. Software offerings comprised IronView and ServerIron TrafficWorks.

A Dell’Oro Group report from the first quarter of 2006 placed Foundry fourth in a $3.66 billion Ethernet switch market, noting that its ServerIron application switch led global port shipments.

Acquisition

On July 21, 2008, Foundry’s leadership agreed to be acquired by Brocade Communications Systems, a company specializing in storage networking, for an estimated $3 billion in cash and stock. Subsequently, on November 7, the deal value was lowered to approximately $2.6 billion in an all-cash transaction after Brocade was unable to secure a necessary $400 million financing tranche to fulfill the initial terms. Shareholders ratified the revised agreement on December 17, 2008; the acquisition was officially closed on December 18, 2008.

Brocade received financial advisory support from Qatalyst Partners while legal representation was provided by Cooley Godward Kronish LLP. The Brocade transaction team was headed by TJ Grewal, Jody Kirk, and Alex Lam.

In 2017, Brocade divested Foundry’s FastIron Campus product line to Arris (Ruckus Networks) and sold its SRA portfolio to Extreme Networks, representing strategic asset realignments within their networking business segments.

See also

• 3Com
• Brocade Communications Systems
• Cisco
• Extreme Networks
• HP ProCurve
• Ruckus Networks
• Nortel

External links

• Article discussing Foundry Networks' market standing
• Dell’Oro Group’s analysis of the Foundry-Brocade merger