Curtiss-Wright Debuts Industry’s Highest Density Physical Layer Switch 8U GLX4000 Switch Supports Up To 288 Ports

LEESBURG, VA – March 7, 2006, -- Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing, the originators of the Physical Layer Switch with over 9 years of experience, have introduced the new 288-port GLX4000 series physical layer switch. This “4th Generation” Layer 1 switch is the latest addition to Curtiss-Wright’s comprehensive family of LinkXchange products. The GLX4000 288 system, housed in a compact 8U chassis, delivers double the port capacity of its predecessor, the GLX4000 144, and offers flexible, expandable crossbar switch performance.

The 19” rackable GLX4000 288 uses a chassis and blade architecture that provides network designers with a simple and cost-effective way to expand the crossbar switch as needs grow. The system chassis can accommodate up to six hot-swappable 48-port interface blades configured to support SFP or Firewire (1394B) at speeds up to 4.25 Gb/s. The switch can also be configured to accept direct Firewire connections at rates up 1600 Mb/s. Because the GLX4000’s blades all connect to a common backplane, the switch’s cross-connect functionality extends across any combination of blades and ports.

The GLX4000 288 provides network designers with greater flexibility and power. For example, it significantly reduces setup time compared to older patch panel solutions. The switch also enables all devices to be connected “under test”, after which all topology changes or fault tests can be made through the GUI and CLI. Automating the wiring and configuration process can help eliminate human errors and greatly increase the accuracy of the network topology. Scripts can be written in PERL, TCL or other scripting languages using the simple, powerful CLI and used to remotely update topologies and emulate optical power loss or cable breaks. Cost savings can also be realized because the GLX4000 288 supports the sharing of expensive resources such as analyzers, sniffers or data recorders. These resources can be connected to the switch and shared among all users and departments.

“Curtiss-Wright’s earlier GLX4000 144-port switch revolutionized the physical layer switch market with unmatched port density,” said Gorky Chin, vice president of Embedded Computing’s Data Communications group. “Now, our new 288-port GLX4000 switch raises the bar, doubling the port count while maintaining compatibility with our legacy switches.”

The GLX4000 288 is a non-blocking, crossbar switch that enables any of a wide variety of input signals to be connected to any of its 288 output ports. Protocols supported include:
• 1/2/4/10G Fibre Channel
• 10/100/1000/10G Ethernet
• FDDI
• SONET/SDH OC-3
• OC-12
• OC-48
• HD
• SDI
• FICON
• ESCON
• iSCSI
• InfiniBand
• Firewire
• … as well as other non-standard serial protocols.

The GLX4000 provides customers with the highest port density in the industry and supports demanding applications such as interoperability labs, media conversion, and resource sharing. It comes equipped with hot-swappable power supplies, fans and port cards.

“The unique design of our multi-protocol, multi-rate GLX4000 port cards give customers unmatched flexibility,” added Mr. Chin. “Our existing port cards work seamlessly with the new GLX4000 288 design without requiring any changes. In many cases a single port card will satisfy a customer’s needs from Ethernet to Fibre Channel.”
Software support for the switch includes Curtiss-Wright’s LXplorer GUI software for switch configuration management. Users can simply drag and drop on-screen ports and the switch will change its configuration instantly. Configurations can be saved and then later recalled to reliably repeat a given set-up. Additionally, LXplorer allows the user to monitor the health of the switch chassis and port cards. Chassis and temperature readings are available for the crosspoint, backplane, and controller card. Fan speeds are depicted as well. Historical data is logged on a chart, allowing the user to determine the switch
state during a specified period of time. The temperature and historical charts for the port cards are similarly available.

The switch’s CompactFlash module acts as the unit’s disk drive for the controller’s CPU and can be removed for security reasons. Additional software support includes the GLX4000 LINUX operating system, controlling firmware, and nonvolatile port configuration data all of which reside on the module.

About Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing Curtiss-Wright Controls Embedded Computing is the industry’s most comprehensive and experienced single source for embedded solutions, ranging from Processing, Subsystems, Data Communication, DSP, and Video & Graphics to the most advanced board level components and fully integrated custom systems. The Embedded Computing group serves the defense, aerospace, commercial and industrial markets and is part of Curtiss-Wright Controls Inc.

About Curtiss-Wright Controls, Inc. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Curtiss-Wright Controls is the motion control segment of Curtiss-Wright Corporation (NYSE: CW). With manufacturing facilities around the world, Curtiss-Wright Controls is a leading technology-based organization providing niche motion control products, subsystems and services internationally for the aerospace and defense markets.

Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such forward-looking statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: a reduction in anticipated orders; an economic downturn; changes in the competitive marketplace and/or customer requirements; an inability to perform customer contracts at anticipated cost levels; a change in government spending; and other factors that generally affect the business of aerospace, defense contracting, marine electronics and industrial companies. Please refer to the current SEC filings for Curtiss-Wright Corporation under the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, for further information. Note: All trademarks are property of their respective owners. Trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

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