Turin Networks completes merger with Force10 Networks

Turin Networks has announced the completion of its merger with Force10 Networks. The combined San Jose-based company is operating as Force10 Networks Inc. and offers a product lineup intended to deliver best-in-class technologies for wireless and wireline service providers, portal and web 2.0 providers, as well as high-performance enterprise data centers. Advanced Equities served as the financial advisor on the transaction.

"With the completion of the merger, Force10 Networks is now uniquely positioned to deliver innovative, cost-effective solutions that address data center consolidation, virtualization, and cloud computing as well as enabling carriers around the world to transition to IP/Ethernet-optimized networks and services," says Henry Wasik, president and chief executive officer of Force10 Networks. "With the management team in place as well as fully aligned sales, marketing, and partner ecosystem programs, Force10 has a newly focused mission to deliver solutions that enable a higher level of performance across the network at a lower total cost-of-ownership."

The combined company's customers include enterprise data centers, global wireless and wireline service providers, supercomputing environments, and Internet brands. More than 60,000 cell sites are using Force10 wireless backhaul solutions worldwide, says the company, while more than 1,400 customers have deployed its Ethernet switching/routing, metro edge, and converged access offerings.

"In the current economic environment, both service provider and data center network administrators are evaluating vendors based on carrier-class performance metrics driven by new applications, including virtualization, cloud computing, and mobile computing that require ultrareliable lossless characteristics," says Zeus Kerravala, vice president of research at the Yankee Group "Force10's complete product portfolio was designed from the ground up to meet the stringent specifications of both service providers and next-generation data centers, delivering an enhanced alternative that addresses the new economics of networking."

Industry analyst firm IDC projects two million 10GbE ports will be deployed in data centers around the world in 2010, while data-center Ethernet switching revenue will grow at a CAGR of 8% to reach $6.4 billion in 2012. Industry analyst firm Ovum RHK forecasts that the market for pseudowire and Ethernet backhaul transport equipment will grow by more than a factor of 10 between 2008 and 2012 to reach more than $5 billion in 2012