[November 19, 2008]

BLADE Network Technologies' RackSwitch 10 Gigabit Ethernet Switches Outperform Cisco's Catalyst Top-of-Rack Switches

(Marketwire Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) AUSTIN, TX, November 19 / MARKET WIRE/ --

SC08 -- BLADE Network Technologies, Inc.
(BLADE), the industry leader in network virtualization and high-performance
solutions for servers and storage, announced today at SC08 that its
HPC-class RackSwitch top-of-rack 1/10 Gigabit Ethernet switch products
demonstrate considerably better latency, throughput, energy efficiency and
price/performance compared with comparable Cisco Catalyst data center
switches.

According to independent evaluations performed by The Tolly Group, BLADE's
RackSwitch G8100 low-latency switch with 24 - 10 Gigabit Ethernet ports
outperforms the Cisco Catalyst 4900M by:

1 Demonstrating 12.4x less latency
2 Sustaining line-rate throughput for all frame sizes, while the
Catalyst 4900M achieves only 49.7 percent of the theoretical maximum
3 Consuming 73 percent less energy
4 Exhibiting 6.5x better price/performance.

BLADE's RackSwitch G8000 1/10GbE aggregation switch offers similar
advantages over Cisco's 4948-10GE Switch:

1 Demonstrating 3x less latency
2 Sustaining line-rate throughput for all frame sizes tested up to
9,216 bytes without losing a single packet, while the
Cisco 4948-10GE achieves 98.8 percent of theoretical maximum
throughput
3 Consuming 30 percent less energy
4 Exhibiting 2.1x better price/performance

The full summaries of the competitive performance evaluations are available
at: http://www.bladenetwork.net/pages/products_rackswitch.html.

"The test results help data center users learn that BLADE's RackSwitch
products can provide unified, rack-level virtualization of server and
storage resources," said Kevin Tolly, president, CEO and founder of The
Tolly Group, a leading, global provider of independent testing and
third-party validation services for the Information technology industry.
"Network performance and cost remain the most important factors when
choosing an enterprise data center solution. However, low power
consumption, optimal cooling and floor space are also critical
requirements. BLADE's RackSwitch excels over comparable Cisco switches
tested across all these critical dimensions."

"BLADE's RackSwitch is not just another 10 Gigabit Ethernet switch because
its design is a direct result of BLADE's heritage as the leading
manufacturer of blade server switches. RackSwitch also leverages BLADE's
unique approach to Rackonomics for cost-effective provisioning of data
center networks one rack at a time," said Dan Tuchler, Vice President of
Strategy and Product Management, BLADE Network Technologies. "In addition
to its extremely low latency and line-rate throughput, the RackSwitch
design was perfected by engineers who are accustomed to designing
networking equipment that meets the strict power and space constrains of

blade server systems. BLADE's RackSwitch was designed from the ground up
with the most efficient silicon, power management subsystems and printed
circuit board design. BLADE's RackSwitch also employs airflow efficiencies
with the data center environment in mind."

Tolly Group engineers measured the Layer 2 throughput, latency and
multicast performance of the BLADE and Cisco switches in a variety of
common network topologies as well as the energy usage for the switch
operations with and without load. Tests were conducted in September 2008.

About The Tolly Group

The Tolly Group is a leading global provider of third-party validation
services for vendors of IT products, components and services. The company
is based in Boca Raton, Florida, and can be reached by phone at (561)
391-5610, or via the Internet at http://www.tolly.com or sales@tolly.com.

About BLADE Network Technologies

BLADE Network Technologies is the leading supplier of Gigabit and 10G
Ethernet network infrastructure solutions that reside in blade servers and
"scale-out" server and storage racks. BLADE's new "virtual, cooler and
easier" RackSwitch family demonstrates the promise of "Rackonomics" -- a
revolutionary approach for scaling out data center networks to drive down
total cost of ownership. The company's customers include half of the
Fortune 500 across 26 industry segments, and an installed base of over
200,000 network switches representing more than 1,000,000 servers and over
4.6 million switch ports. For more information, visit www.bladenetwork.net.

BLADE Network Technologies and RackSwitch are trademarks of BLADE Network
Technologies. All other names or marks are property of their respective
owners.

CONTACTS:
Tim Shaughnessy
BLADE Network Technologies
(408) 850-8963Email Contact
Zee Zaballos
ZNA Communications
(831) 425-1581 x201Email Contact

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