New F5® software enables
hybrid technologies through dynamic on-premises and off-premises
deployments, adds Microsoft Azure Marketplace availability
F5
Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV)
today announced a major software release that expands F5’s hybrid
platform of services, and greatly improves the agility, security, and
performance of cloud application deployments. New innovations make it
simple for customers to unify hardware, software, and managed service
resources to realize IT efficiency and cost savings.
Extended Hybrid Application Services for Optimized Performance in All
IT Environments
BIG-IP®
version 12.0 takes advantage of F5’s application delivery services
fabric, extending the F5
Synthesis™ model by combining physical and virtual
resources to better support cloud and hybrid scenarios. This approach
allows customers to more easily transition workloads to cloud
environments as needed and incorporate technologies like HTTP/2,
while maintaining the same visibility, security, and control of
traditional infrastructures.
F5 accelerates cloud migrations, enabling customers to integrate
security, management, and orchestration capabilities for their evolving
on-premises and off-premises deployments. Moreover, F5’s programmable,
extensible architecture and growing ecosystem
of technology partners make its application services an ideal fit
for emerging IT trends such as SDN,
NFV,
and converged systems offerings.
Seamless Integration and IT Efficiency with Microsoft Azure
Deployments
F5 supports customers deploying cloud and hybrid IT architectures, with BIG-IP
virtual edition solutions becoming available in the Azure
Marketplace. Initially, all BIG-IP software modules will be
available on Azure through F5’s Good,
Better, Best licensing model in a “bring your own license” (BYOL)
configuration, with 25 M, 200 M, and 1 G options.
F5 and Microsoft customers will have additional choices in how to
optimize their application delivery and cloud technologies in a unified
framework. In addition, F5 offers differentiated performance in Azure
compared to other vendors, including an extensive set of traffic
management and security capabilities that allow enterprises to deploy
applications and services with the same ease and functionality
experienced with on-premises data centers.
Enhanced Application Security for Superior Protection and Access
Capabilities
F5’s BIG-IP 12.0 release includes many integrated enhancements to F5’s
security and access solutions, with notable examples below:
-
Reliable Access in All Types of IT Environments with SSO – F5 extends
secure authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA)
capabilities to cloud-based, web-based, and virtual applications while
centrally managing federated identity functions. F5 provides over 5x
the scalability of other vendors for applications and identity access
management. In addition, F5 is one of the only leading access vendors
to extend single sign-on (via SAML) to client-based applications and
other browser-less environments, such as Microsoft Office 365.
-
Superior Protection with the Largest DDoS Vector Spectrum and
Increased Attack Visibility – With BIG-IP 12.0, F5 offers the most
comprehensive and effective mitigations to protect against
sophisticated, high-volume DDoS threats on-premises or in the cloud.
F5 also helps companies strengthen their security postures and agility
with simplified threat visibility, providing thorough drill-down
summaries of attack details.
-
Improved SSL Capabilities for Comprehensive Security – Organizations’
use of SSL is rapidly increasing, with many IT teams moving toward an
“encrypt everything” approach. BIG-IP provides innovative, integrated
SSL encryption and visibility to manage security certificates and keys
across physical, virtual, and cloud deployments—all without the blind
spots or performance loss typical of other vendors’ offerings.
SUPPORTING QUOTES
“Organizations are seeking the same confidence level with applications
and services in cloud/hybrid deployments that they’ve seen in the data
center,” said Karl Triebes, EVP of Product Development and CTO, F5. “Our
BIG-IP software is instrumental in helping customers take advantage of
the benefits of the cloud without sacrificing security, flexibility, or
savings. With these new technologies, we’re committed to meeting
organizations along whatever path they take in evolving hybrid
application delivery environments and incorporating cloud.”
“Microsoft and F5 share many customers. With the growing adoption of
Azure among this common customer base, organizations will benefit from
the availability of F5’s application services in our marketplace,” said
Garth Fort, General Manager of Enterprise Partners, Microsoft. “This
development helps customers best support their cloud-based applications
directly within Azure environments.”
AVAILABILITY
BIG-IP version 12.0 software will be available in September 2015, with
BIG-IP virtual edition availability in the Azure Marketplace anticipated
in October 2015. Please contact a local
F5 sales office for additional product and service availability
information pertaining to specific countries.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
ABOUT F5
F5 (NASDAQ:
FFIV) provides solutions for an application world. F5 helps
organizations seamlessly scale cloud, data center, telecommunications,
and software defined networking (SDN) deployments to successfully
deliver applications and services to anyone, anywhere, at any time. F5
solutions broaden the reach of IT through an open, extensible framework
and a rich partner ecosystem of leading technology and orchestration
vendors. This approach lets customers pursue the infrastructure model
that best fits their needs over time. The world’s largest businesses,
service providers, government entities, and consumer brands rely on F5
to stay ahead of cloud, security, and mobility trends. For more
information, go to f5.com.
You can also follow @f5networks
on Twitter or visit us on LinkedIn
and Facebook
for more information about F5, its partners, and technologies.
F5, BIG-IP, and F5 Synthesis are trademarks or service marks of F5
Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and
company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements relating to
future events or future financial performance that involve risks and
uncertainties. Such statements can be identified by terminology such as
"may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes,"
"estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of
such terms or comparable terms. These statements are only predictions
and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in
these statements based upon a number of factors including those
identified in the company's filings with the SEC.
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