Level 5 Networks, the leading provider of high performance Ethernet network interface cards announces that Broadband-Testing has validated the performance of its EtherFabric™ EF1-21022T Ethernet NIC. This independent test demonstrated a huge performance benefit at little incremental cost and with very little disturbance to the existing Data Center infrastructure.

Broadband-Testing was given the EtherFabric™ EF1-21022T Ethernet NIC from Level 5 Networks to test using standard servers and software – in this instance, the ZWS Web Server and ZXTM Load Balancer from Zeus ™. Broadband-Testing found that the Level 5 solution was completely transparent to these Data Centre applications, and was quickly up and running showing huge gains in performance, when measured using the industry standard Avalanche test equipment from Spirent.

With EtherFabric, Level 5 has shown that is possible to achieve significant performance gains using totally Ethernet compliant technology and at a price that literally every company can afford.

[Steve Broadhead, Founder & Director, Broadband-Testing Labs.]

The testing also demonstrated the robustness of the Level 5 solution. Under extreme overload conditions the servers equipped with Level 5 sustained high-performance well past the point where the regular server solution had collapsed.

With ZXTM and ZWS, Zeus has broken the mould of network appliances by providing software to accelerate and secure application traffic, which can be easily installed on any hardware of users choosing. It was a pleasant surprise to find that a low cost Level 5 network adapter could so dramatically increase performance, which we believe validates our stance of running on commodity hardware. Truly 'optimising the optimiser'.

[Steve Palmer, VP of Marketing, Zeus Technology]

This combination of ultra-high performance, full standards based application compatibility, and resistance to sustained overload conditions makes the EtherFabric™ EF1-21022T Ethernet NIC the perfect choice for the most demanding of Data Center applications.

The full test report can be obtained from:
http://www.broadband-testing.co.uk/BBT_download_form.htm

Accelerating Network Computing

Level 5 Networks has taken a more innovative approach to solving the I/O bottleneck. Until now, interconnects have been expensive, required significant expertise to implement, and could not scale easily to the high port densities needed today. Because EtherFabric is standards based, it dramatically accelerates application performance without changing the existing IT infrastructure, giving customers significant gains in application performance without requiring changes to the network or the applications.

Companies that choose the Gigabit Ethernet based technology from Level 5 Networks benefit from:

Low-risk solutions that are standards compliant and completely compatible with existing network equipment and application software
Taking advantage of existing Ethernet networking expertise and management tools
Accelerating the performance of the applications running within their Data Center environment without drastic changes to the servers, applications or to the network

About Zeus

Zeus Technology is leading innovation in application traffic management software. With over ten years' industry experience, the company has developed award-winning solutions that enable organizations to intelligently manage their applications, streamline operations and provide a seamless end-user experience.
Web-enabled businesses rely on Zeus infrastructure products for reliability, scalability and security. Reshaping the market by taking an intelligent approach to application traffic management, Zeus Extensible Traffic Manager (ZXTM) integrates the three essential business requirements of traffic management, optimization and security in a single robust and scalable solution. This provides centralized control and resilience for applications, and ensures swift and seamless interaction between web-enabled application services.

Zeus holds strategic partnerships with world-class companies such as HP, IBM, Sun Microsystems, Intel, AMD, Qualcomm, Clarity Group and Redbus Interhouse, OpenPSL and jetNEXUS. Zeus customers include BT, Cable & Wireless, Document Systems Inc., eBay, Hotel.de, NEC BIGLOBE, Newport City Council, NOB Cross-Media Facilities, PLAY.COM, Federal Railroads Administration, The Institute of Financial Services, Virgin Holidays, The Planet, TD Waterhouse, Telewest, Verisign and We Energies. For more information visit www.zeus.com.

About Broadband-Testing

Broadband-Testing is Europe's foremost independent network testing facility and consultancy organization for broadband and network infrastructure products.
Based in the south of France, Broadband-Testing offers extensive labs, demo and conference facilities. From this base, Broadband-Testing provides a range of specialist IT, networking and development services to vendors and end-user organizations throughout Europe, SEAP and the United States.

Broadband-Testing is an associate of the following:
· NSS Network Testing Laboratories (specializing in security product testing)
· Broadband Vantage (broadband consultancy group)
· Limbo Creatives (bespoke software development)

###