Riverstone 15100 and 15200 Tear Down Barriers to Mass Carrier Ethernet Deployments SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Carrier Ethernet pioneer Riverstone Networks (OTC:RSTN.PK) today introduced the newest members of its Riverstone 15000 product line: the Riverstone 15100 and 15200 Carrier Ethernet Access Routers. The two new MPLS-based Ethernet routers tear down the barriers to mass carrier Ethernet deployments by giving Tier One carriers and competitive service providers the high reliability and scalability needed to successfully deliver next generation business and residential triple play services in a high quality, low-cost platform. Priced significantly less than any comparable technology on the market today, the Riverstone 15100 and the 10 Gig-E Riverstone 15200 extend the industry-leading feature set of the 15008 Ethernet Edge Router into the access layer, providing MPLS from the core to the network edge. The end-to-end solution gives service providers the ability to maintain a single operational model as well as mix-and-match VLAN and MPLS access technologies, helping optimize functionality and cost in both large and small network deployments. The introduction of these routers fulfills the market's previously unaddressed need for a compact, fully-featured platform that extends the benefits of VPLS as close to the service-users as possible. Updata Infrastructure UK Ltd., a municipal service provider in England plans to deploy the new routers. "There has been a need for a solution like this for a long time," said Henrik Bremerskov, Head of Technology, Updata. "The irresistible price point, added capacity and reliability, and the availability of both MPLS/VPLS downlinks and uplinks -- an industry first -- gives service providers greater freedom in designing their networks than ever before." While service providers have been quick to embrace MPLS in the core and aggregation layers of their networks, many have opted for other technologies in the access layer to minimize their capital expenditure. In doing so, they have had to compromise network reliability, scalability, QoS and operations. "Operators are looking for reliability and performance at the access layer that is comparable to what they enjoy at the edge and core, but without added cost," said Stan Hubbard, Heavy Reading. "Compact and affordable MPLS / VPLS access solutions can be particularly liberating for small service providers and municipal network operators for whom the cost barrier is disproportionately high." UTOPIA, a municipal FTTx network in Utah, is planning to trial the Riverstone 15100 and 15200. "This fills a significant gap in the industry, bridging the features and functionality previously only available on high-end edge platforms with a smaller, more cost-effective form factor," said Jeff Fishburn, CTO of DynamicCity, operators of the UTOPIA network. "We believe these new routers have great potential." Like the 15008, the newest members of the 15000 family are equipped with a modular operating system to dramatically reduce router software outages and reboots. Such an operating system can increase routing reliability by a full order of magnitude, according to a recent report by the consulting firm Network Strategy Partners(1). This unique capability at the network edge, combined with the resiliency and traffic engineering attributes of MPLS, gives service providers a truly carrier-grade Ethernet solution. Riverstone is demonstrating the new routers this week in Salt Lake City at Broadband Cities 2005, an industry conference bringing together community leaders from around the world interested in building municipal networks. Riverstone is the platinum sponsor of this DynamicCity event and will be at the heart of the conference's network, demonstrating the UTOPIA network and allowing attendees to experience the power of carrier Ethernet first hand. Available in fourth quarter 2005, the 15100 provides an Ethernet-optimized alternative to Riverstone's multi-service oriented RS 1100 and 3100. It supports up to 20 triple-speed copper or fiber downlinks, and four Gig-E uplinks. The 15200 extends this by supporting dual 10 Gig-E uplinks. Both of the new access routers support VPLS, RFC-2547 MPLS-VPNs, and Layer 3 routing protocols including BGP, OSPF, multicast, and IS-IS. Combined with line-rate IPv6, multi-layer OAM and Hierarchical QoS, they play a key role in supporting converged business and residential services, as well as VoIP and 3G wireless infrastructure deployments. Like the RS family of routers, the expanded Riverstone 15000 product line uses the Riverstone Management Center framework to deliver end-to-end OSS, including device configuration, inventory management, and performance and fault data collection. Riverstone Networks, Inc. is a leading provider of carrier Ethernet infrastructure solutions for business and residential communications services. Riverstone's Ethernet router portfolio uniquely delivers the reliability that allows carriers to meet the triple play -- voice, video and data -- service requirements of their customers in a cost-effective and scalable way. Riverstone allows carriers to offer new services over existing revenue- generating networks permitting them to evolve to a next generation Ethernet infrastructure. Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release, including without limitation statements regarding the availability of the Riverstone 15100 and 15200 Ethernet Access Routers, the features and pricing of the routers when they are made available, and customers' plans to test and/or deploy the routers are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof and are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially. These risks and uncertainties include unforeseen delays in commercial release of the products, costs to manufacture or procure components that could affect pricing, development delays that could impact which features are available immediately upon commercial release of the products, and future changes in customer evaluation and deployment plans of which Riverstone is currently unaware, along with those risks and uncertainties detailed from time to time in Riverstone Networks' SEC reports, including the reports on Form 10-Q and Form 8-K filed on September 2, 2004 . The company assumes no obligation to update or revise these forward-looking statements. Riverstone Contact: Amy Huitt Riverstone Networks 1-408-878-6918 Agency Contact: Natalie Godsell Fleishman-Hillard 44-20-7395-7068 DATASOURCE: Riverstone Networks CONTACT: Amy Huitt of Riverstone Networks, +1-408-878-6918, or ; or Natalie Godsell of Fleishman-Hillard, +44-20-7395-7068, or , for Riverstone Networks Web site: http://www.riverstonenet.com/

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