Press Releases

2009

FORCE10 NETWORKS-SPONSORED DESIGN TEAM WINS BRONZE MEDAL IN PRESTIGIOUS ROBOGAMES COMPETITION

SAN JOSE, Calif., June, 17, 2009 – Force10 Networks, the technology leader for building and securing intelligent services networks, today announced that the AcYut-II robot, co-sponsored by Force10 and designed by students from the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani), India, has won the Bronze medal in the middleweight Humanoid category at the 2009 RoboGames (www.robogames.net) that took place in San Francisco on June 12–14.

RoboGames is the world's largest open robot competition with more than 250 teams participating from 28 different countries across 70 different competitive events. After placing 6th at the 2008 competition, The AcYut team from the Center for Robotics and Intelligent Systems (CRIS) at BITS Pilani built their second humanoid, AcYut-II, within the institute.

“We’re extremely proud that the only Indian-built humanoid robot participant in this contest was able to garner this award even among such excellent worldwide competition,” says Prof. R.K. Mittal, deputy director, BITS Pilani and team’s guide accompanying the team. “We deeply appreciate our sponsors, including Force10 Networks and Sierra Atlantic, who have helped foster the education of our students, enabling them to take these acquired skills and apply humanoid robotics into other areas of business, medicine or science.”  

BITS Pilani is open to university-industry collaboration and offers work-integrated learning programs for human resources development. Force10, meanwhile, maintains a significant research and development office in Chennai, India.

“We see first-hand the amount of talent that BITS Pilani produces because of their strong belief that tomorrow’s innovators are shaped by the experiences of these exciting, real-world projects,” says Steve Garrison, vice president of marketing, Force10 Networks. “We congratulate the AcYut II team and look forward to seeing how the group will apply their research, skill and diligence in their careers ahead.”

Continuing Commitment to Fostering Innovation
For Force10 Networks, the BITS Pilani sponsorship represents a continuing commitment to supporting educational causes both domestically and internationally. For the previous two years, Force10 has awarded wireless-enabled laptop computers to a select group of high school seniors awarded with the Horatio Alger Scholarship, given to those who have persevered through adverse circumstances and have shown their commitment to serving others through continued education and their own life experiences. For more information on Force10’s community involvement, please visit http://www.force10networks.com/company/corporate_citizenship/.

The Force10 Reliable Networking product portfolio supports advances in reliability, network control and scalability that enable enterprises to lower their total cost of ownership. By building a flexible network that is ready to support emerging and evolving applications, enterprises can optimize their networks for current needs as well as future requirements.

About BITS Pilani
BITS Pilani, India's top ranking private university, has the reputation of setting the benchmark for industry-university collaboration and pioneering online examinations through the path-breaking BITSAT (BITS admission test). The University offers degrees in Engineering, Sciences, Business Administration, Economics, and Humanities at its campuses in Pilani, Dubai, Goa, and Hyderabad. In addition, BITS offers a number of work integrated learning programs for Human Resources Development that are utilized by a broad spectrum of Indian corporations. For more information on BITS Pilani, please visit www.bits-pilani.ac.in

About Force10 Networks
Force10 Networks is the global technology leader that data center, service provider and enterprise customers rely on when the network is their business. The company’s high performance solutions are designed to deliver new economics by virtualizing and automating Ethernet networks.  Force10’s high density and resilient Ethernet switching and routing products increase network availability, agility and efficiency while reducing power and cooling costs.  Force10 provides 24x7 service and support capabilities to its global customer base in more than 60 countries worldwide.  For more information on Force10 Networks, please visit www.force10networks.com.

Contact:
Kevin Kimball
Force10 Networks Inc.
+1 408 571-3544
kkimball@force10networks.com

Force10 Networks, Force10, E-Series, Traverse, and TraverseEdge are registered trademarks and ExaScale, S-Series, TeraScale, and FTOS are trademarks of Force10 Networks, Inc.  All other company names are trademarks of their respective holders.