Fore systems builds high reliability, high performance silicon communication switches that range from 2.5 to 40 Gbits in capacity. The ASX line of products are core ATM switches. The ASX-1000 is a 10 Gbit ATM switch, and the highest volume product of the company. The ASX-4000 is the latest switch in that product line and has a capacity of 40 Gbit. Fore Systems also creates the software for their switching products.
Forethought is the control software that runs the switch processors.
The software consists of over 1.2 million lines of code mostly written in the C language. This code base supports all Fore System switches, and is capable of operating on two different types of processors. The ESX product lines of switches are used for wiring closet applications, and the ESX-3000 is the newest member of this group. The project took 17 months from inception until the product was first delivered to customers in March of 1999. There were approximately 33,100 hours of engineering time devoted to the development of this system.