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CERN Chooses Chiaro Router for Trans-Atlantic Trial

March 15, 2004 Chiaro Networks’ Enstara IP / MPLS Platform Selected by CERN for Trans-Atlantic Trial The Enstara Platform to Demonstrate Ultra Reliability in Intercontinental Data-Intensive Grid Test Bed RICHARDSON, TX - Chiaro Networks, the developer of true infrastructure-class Internet Protocol / Multi-Protocol Label Switching (IP / MPLS) platforms, today announced that its Enstara™ router has been selected by the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) for its DataTAG project. The DataTAG project, a large-scale intercontinental Grid test bed, is focused on advanced networking issues and interoperability between Grid domains across Europe and the United States. The purpose for DataTAG’s research is to provide a highly reliable solution that will allow transparent access to the increasing number of data-intensive applications being distributed within the Grid. Chiaro’s Enstara router has been in the CERN network since March 4. “Impeccable reliability from a core IP / MPLS router is an imperative for CERN and our DataTAG project, which is meant to further CERN’s ability to better share scientific and technical information and to collaborate across long distances,” said Olivier Martin of CERN, DataTAG project leader. “Also crucial are Quality of Service (QoS), performance and the ability to interoperate within a multi-vendor network. Chiaro’s Enstara platform meets or exceeds our criteria on all counts, and we expect that it will prove itself a valuable resource for the reliable transfer of huge amounts of data.” While at CERN, the Enstara platform will be tested for its ability to provide consistent and sustained ultra reliability for high-performance data replication and guaranteed real-time traffic delivery over long-distance, high-bandwidth connections. The Enstara router will also provide the long-distance connectivity between CERN and the OptIPuter Project at the University of California at San Diego (UCSD), as well as provide large Internet Border-Gateway-Protocol (BGP) route connectivity with France’s next-generation Internet test bed, the VTHD (Vraiment Tres Haut Debit) network. “We are demonstrating the Enstara platform’s ability to provide a real solution, available today, for the reliable transfer of real-time data over high-bandwidth intercontinental connections,” said Ken Lewis, president and chief executive officer of Chiaro Networks. “Providing an infrastructure-class IP / MPLS platform that can reliably transfer the sort of critical and data-intensive applications being used at CERN is important to our carrier customers looking for the same ultra reliability and excellent performance to consolidate their networks.” Enstara: The First Infrastructure-Class IP / MPLS Platform The Chiaro Enstara router, the world’s first highly available infrastructure-class IP / MPLS platform, defines infrastructure-class with ultra reliability, versatility and product longevity. Available in configurations for different applications and system sizes, the Enstara portfolio offers carriers a powerful new way to achieve unprecedented cost savings. Key to the Enstara platform’s ability to deliver infrastructure-class capabilities is Chiaro’s STateful Assured Routing™ (STAR™) technology, which enables 99.999 percent (five nines) availability with seamless, transparent protection of hardware and software during switchover following failures and maintenance activities, including “hitless” upgrades. With STAR protocol protection, the impact of equipment failures and maintenance events is not only minimized, it is unnoticed by other parts of the network. Enstara’s modular distributed software architecture provides automatic fault detection and recovery, intelligent fault monitoring and network stability, with software modules added or upgraded as needed. Rapid and early detection of software failures and imminent failures provides fast switchover and recovery. The Enstara platform features a “no single point of failure” architecture, designed from the ground up with internal redundancy, which eliminates the need to deploy multiple routers. About CERN and DataTAG CERN is the world’s largest particle physics research center, located near Geneva, Switzerland. Technological development at CERN has given the world advances as varied as medical imaging and the World Wide Web. Founded in 1954, the laboratory was one of Europe’s first joint ventures and has become a shining example of international collaboration. The DataTAG project is co-funded by the European Union, the US National Science Foundation through the Electronic Visualization Lab (EVL) at University of Illinois in Chicago (UIC) and the US Department of Energy (DoE) through the California Institute of Technology (CALTECH). The project is led by CERN with the following partners: the Italian National Institute for Nuclear Research (INFN), France’s Institut National de Recherche en Informatique et en Automatique (INRIA), the UK’s Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council (PPARC) and the Informatics Institute of the Science Faculty of the University of Amsterdam. US partners include, CALTECH Argonne National Laboratory, Northwestern University and the University of Michigan. About OptIPuter The OptIPuter project is a next-generation, optical-networking, grid-computing test bed at UCSD in conjunction with UIC and other institutions and companies. UCSD also uses the Enstara platform for its high-speed, highly scalable optical-switching capabilities - pushing the limits of grid-computing architectures to support data-intensive scientific research and collaboration. About Chiaro Networks Chiaro Networks is the provider of the Enstara™ router, the industry’s first highly available infrastructure-class IP / MPLS platform. The company has developed the Enstara portfolio with the goal of solving the “crisis of cost” issues facing service providers, reducing capital expenditures per point of presence (PoP) by more than 60 percent. With strong support from the venture capitalist and technology communities, Chiaro, with headquarters in Richardson, Texas, has secured 210 million to date from backers such as Intel Capital, Siemens Ventures, Sevin Rosen Funds and STAR Ventures. Chiaro Networks and Enstara are trademarks of Chiaro Networks. Chiaro Networks disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others. Contact: Kathryn Gonia Chiaro Networks kgonia @ chiaro.com Colleen Martell Martell Communications cmartell @ martellpr.com