TAMPA - January 25, 2001 The Forever Young Foundation announced today that Steve Young, along with his corporate partners, has committed more than $1 million worth of computer technology to the NFL Youth Education Town (YET) initiative. Through the generous gift of Young, Sun Microsystems and Foundry Networks, each of the nine existing YET centers will receive new computer equipment to help advance the technological skills of inner city communities served by the centers.
Sun will provide each NFL YET center with 30 Sun Ray appliances along an E450 Server and substantial technical support to enable these centers to provide state of the art technology to children. Foundry Networks will provide the network backbone with its donation of high performance FastIronÆ II Switches. The Forever Young Foundation will provide the appropriate interior design for the YET Center computer labs, including workstations and chairs.
Young stressed that this technology grant would be used to reach both children and adults by providing not only school-based computer learning but adult computer workshops, technology job training, and computer literacy education to the community at large.
The NFL YET centers are a perfect national institution to encompass this type of technology, said Steve Young, who founded the Forever Young Foundation in 1993. The access they provide, especially to these communities who need this type of technology resource, is what I find so intriguing. I am proud to be involved with this groundbreaking project and am grateful to Sun Microsystems and Foundry Networks for sharing the vision and helping to bridge the digital divide.
"We are pleased to have this opportunity to invest in the NFL YET Centers and view this as an opportunity for Sun Microsystems through the NFL, to give back to these cites and more importantly to invest in the future of the people in each community," said Gary Serda, manager, global community development for Sun Microsystems. "By partnering with Steve Young's foundation, Sun has the chance to reach each of these communities to provide equipment, training and services that will ultimately prepare people for the net economy."
We are very proud to be able to contribute to the NFL YET centers, said Bobby Johnson, president and CEO of Foundry Networks. We believe that it is important for all children, and the communities they live in, to have an opportunity to use the latest technology, and we are very pleased that Foundry equipment will help enhance both current and future centers.
We are proud of the commitment that Steve Young, Sun Microsystems and the Foundry Network have made to the NFL YET Centers, said NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue. Their dedication to combating the digital divide is evident and we look forward to a long and fruitful YET partnership where we can work together to better the lives of urban youth and families.
Passing on hope and resources to children, at home, at school, at risk
Founded in 1993 by San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young, the Forever Young Foundation (FYF) is a non-profit public charity, dedicated to the development, security, strength and education of children and families. FYF raises funds to support qualified community outreach programs and charitable organizations. Recently, FYF developed and funded two interactive recreational therapy rooms Forever Young Zones at Lucile Packard Childrenís Hospital in San Francisco and Primary Childrenís Hospital in Salt Lake City. For more information, contact Forever Young Foundation at (800) 99-4EVER.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision - The Network Is The
Computer[tm] - has propelled Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ: SUNW), to its
position as a leading provider of industrial-strength hardware, software and
services that power the Internet and allow companies worldwide to dot-com
their businesses. With $15.7 billion in annual revenues, Sun can be found in
more than 170 countries and on the World Wide Web at http://sun.com.
About Foundry Networks, Inc.
Foundry Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FDRY) is a performance and total solutions leader for end-to-end switching and routing including Internet routers, Layer 2/3 LAN switches, and Layer 4-7 Internet traffic and content delivery switches. Foundryís 3,000+ customers include the worldís premier ISPs and enterprises, portals, search engines, e-commerce sites, and universities along with the leading entertainment, pharmaceutical, government, financial, and manufacturing companies.>Some of these customers include: AOL, EarthLink, AT&T WorldNet, MSN, Cable & Wireless, Yahoo!, Incyte Genomics, Inc.,LucasFilm, U.S. Army, Air Force and Navy and NASA. For more information about the company and its products, call 1.888.TURBO.LAN or visit www.foundrynetworks.com.