PHOENIX (Aug. 28, 2001) - The NFL, Arizona Cardinals, Steve Young and Sun Microsystems officially open the first Forever Young Zone at the Phoenix NFL Youth Education Town (YET).
The Forever Young Zone is a unique technology center focusing on the goals of computer and internet usage for the community at large. Through a $1 million partnership with Sun Microsystems, the Forever Young Foundation is sponsoring these centers throughout the NFL's Youth Education Towns.
The Phoenix YET Center, part of Super Bowl XXX's legacy, is one of nine educational and recreational facilities that will feature the Forever Young Zone technology centers.
Sun Microsystems is providing each NFL YET center with 30 Sun Ray appliances along an E450 Server substantial technical support and teacher training which will to enable these centers to provide state of the art technology to children and the community at large.
Foundry Networks will provide the network backbone with its donation of high performance FastIron. II Switches. The Forever Young Foundation will provide the appropriate interior design for the YET Center computer labs, including the highest quality 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 as a whole.
"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."
"From the beginning, Sun has recognized the importance of giving back to the community through special programs aimed at furthering the use of technology in education," said Stephen DeWitt, Vice President and General Manager, Content Delivery and Edge Computing, Sun Microsystems. "By working with NFLCharities and the Forever Young Foundation, we can help children and adults in underprivileged areas participate in - and benefit from - the information 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."
"The Arizona Cardinals would like to thank Sun Microsystems and the Forever Young Foundation for their involvement in such a worthy project in our community," said William V. Bidwill, Arizona Cardinals president. "We look forward to more companies getting involved in the Phoenix Y.E.T. Center and to our next Super Bowl in our new stadium."
About Forever Young Foundation
Currently, FYF is concentrating on their Forever Young Zone projects. These projects vary according to need, but currently include two interactive recreational therapy rooms at renown children's hospitals and an national ongoing project with the NFL for technology centers within their Youth Education Towns. For more information, contact Forever Young Foundation at (800) 99-4EVER or reach them on the web at www.foreveryoung.org.
About Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Since its inception in 1982, a singular vision "The Network Is
The Computer" 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 take their businesses to the nth.
With $18.3 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.
Foundry's 3,000+ customers include the world's 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.