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For Immediate Release

Juniper Networks Licenses Junos Operating System to BLADE Network Technologies

BLADE selected to bring to market Junos-based blade server switches for world’s leading server OEMs

Santa Clara, CA, October 29, 2009 -- BLADE Network Technologies, Inc. (BLADE), the trusted leader in data center networking, and Juniper Networks® (NYSE: JNPR) today announced that Juniper has licensed its Junos® operating system to BLADE Network Technologies for the development of Junos-based blade server switches. Under this strategic agreement, BLADE Network Technologies will be the exclusive global supplier of Junos-based blade server switches to the world’s leading server manufacturers. 

BLADE will also offer its value-added data center features on these new Junos-enabled blade server switches, such as network-aware VMready™ virtualization, AMP™ Active Multi Pathing technology, HotLinks™ for high availability, and other industry-leading data center functions, including vNIC (Virtual Network Interface Card), OFM (Open Fabric Manager) and Advanced OFM. BLADE’s new Junos-based switches will complement its line of BLADEOS-based blade server switches which have approximately seven million ports deployed worldwide making them the world’s most deployed brand of blade server switches. BLADEOS Ethernet switches are currently installed at over 9,000 customers around the world through the company’s partnerships with leading blade server manufactuers.

“This is the first ever licensing of the Junos operating system, proving our commitment to creating an open ecosystem of innovation to provide customers with choice and flexibility,” said Kevin Johnson, chief executive officer, Juniper Networks. “By licensing our Junos to market leader BLADE Network Technologies, we are helping customers achieve intelligence across the network, which ultimately reduces cost, minimizes complexity and maximizes user experience.”

“We’re honored to be Juniper’s choice for developing Junos-based blade server switches,” said Vikram Mehta, president and CEO, BLADE Network Technologies. “The world’s most widely installed blade server switches have been designed and delivered by BLADE Network Technologies, and today’s announcement allows BLADE to extend our franchise and serve those customers who want a common network operating system at all layers of their corporate network – access, aggregation and core. This game changing partnership provides data center customers with a very attractive alternative to proprietary offerings. Today’s announcement means another ‘doubling down’ on BLADE’s innovation investments as we offer customers a choice of operating systems and a common set of data center optimizations for both operating systems.”

High-Performance Network Operating System and Intelligent Switching

A core foundation of Juniper products since 1997, the Junos operating system delivers a reliable, high-performance platform for routing, switching and security – with programming interfaces and an SDK to help developers unlock more value from the network. Junos helps to automate network operations by providing a single consistent implementation of features across the network in a single release train that minimizes the complexity, cost and risk associated with implementing network features and upgrades. This provides network administrators with more time to innovate and deliver new revenue-generating applications. >

BLADE Network Technologies is the market share leader for blade server Ethernet switches, which are deployed at over 300 of the Fortune 500. BLADE’s first blade server switches featuring Junos are slated for delivery in 2010.

About BLADE Network Technologies

BLADE Network Technologies (BLADE) is the leading provider of Gigabit and 10G Ethernet cloud-ready networking solutions for dynamic, enterprise data centers worldwide. In addition to its innovative OEM blade switches, and SmartConnect with VMready virtualization and BLADEHarmony Manager software, BLADE’s “Virtual, Cooler, Easier” RackSwitch family enables “Rackonomics” – an efficient approach for scaling out data center networks to drive down total cost of ownership. BLADE’s customers include more than 300 of the Fortune 500 across 26 industry segments, representing nearly 7 million switch ports connecting over 2 million servers and storage systems in data centers around the globe. Visit: www.bladenetwork.net.   Twitter: @BLADENetwork.

About Juniper Networks

From devices to data centers, from consumers to the cloud, Juniper Networks delivers innovative software, silicon and systems that transform the experience and economics of networking. The company serves more than 30,000 customers and partners worldwide, and earned more than $3 billion in revenue over the last year. Additional information can be found at www.juniper.net.

About Blade.org

Blade.org is a collaborative vendor and end-user community focused on accelerating the development and adoption of blade server solutions. The organization provides leadership to the blade market and fosters a thriving industry ecosystem focused on delivering valuable solutions to blade computing customers. More information is available at www.blade.org.

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