Editing Foundry Networks (section)

==History==
[[File:Brocade FES24 Front.jpg|thumb|232px|Brocade FastIron Edge 24-port switch, front]]
[[File:Brocade FES24 Back.jpg|thumb|232px|Brocade FastIron Edge 24-port switch, back]]
[[Image:FoundryFastIronIIPlus.png|thumb|upright |Foundry FastIron II Plus chassis with two fiber management cards and six 16-port gigabit Ethernet cards]]

The company was founded in 1996 by Bobby R. Johnson, Jr. and was headquartered in [[Santa Clara, California]], United States. In its first year the company operated under the names Perennium Networks and StarRidge Networks, but by January 1997 the name Foundry Networks was adopted. Foundry Networks had their [[initial public offering]] in 1999, during the [[Internet bubble]], with the company reaching a valuation of $9 billion on its first day of trading on [[NASDAQ]] with the symbol FDRY.<ref>{{Cite news |title= Bobby Johnson, Foundry Networks |work= Byte and Switch |date= July 23, 2003 |url= http://www.lightreading.com/ip-convergence/bobby-johnson-foundry-networks/240018703  |access-date= July 19, 2013  }}</ref>

Foundry Networks designed, manufactured and sold high-end enterprise and service provider switches and routers, as well as wireless, security, and traffic management solutions. It was best known for its Layer 2 & 3 Ethernet switches.  Foundry Networks was the first company to build and ship a [[gigabit Ethernet]] switch in 1997; to build a Layer 3 switch, also in 1997; to build the first [[Application Delivery Controller|Layer 4-7]] switch in 1998 and to include [[10 Gigabit Ethernet]] single connectors in its boxes (since 2001).{{Citation needed |date= July 2013}}

Foundry Networks early product lines consisted of the Workgroup, Backbone, and ServerIron products. The TurboIron all GigE switch and then router models were later introduced. Foundry Networks' later product lines consisted of the BigIron, EdgeIron, FastIron, IronPoint, NetIron, SecureIron, and ServerIron. After the early BigIron modular chassis, the Mucho Grande (MG) series chassis were introduced. Later the RX series in 4, 8, 16, and 32 slot versions. The largest and final product, the XMR was a full rack sized switch/router. Their software products included IronView and ServerIron TrafficWorks.

According to a Dell’Oro report published in 1Q2006, Foundry Networks ranked number 4 in a total market share of over US$3,659 million, and its ServerIron application switch ranked first for total port shipments.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090611101536/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4137/is_200503/ai_n13591705/ B NET Article - Foundry ServerIron App Switch keeps Worldwide Leadership (archived)][https://web.archive.org/web/20090611101536/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4137/is_200503/ai_n13591705/ B NET Article - Foundry ServerIron App Switch keeps Worldwide Leadership (archived)]<!-- original URL: http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa4137/is_200503/ai_n13591705/ now blocked by Robots.txt --></ref><ref>{{Cite web |title= Ethernet Switch Market Retreats in the First Quarter of 2006 |publisher= Dell'Oro Group |date= May 17, 2006 |work= News release |url= http://www.delloro.com/news/2006/ES051706.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20060527092541/http://www.delloro.com/news/2006/ES051706.htm |archive-date= May 27, 2006 |access-date= July 19, 2013 }}</ref>