F5 Delivers Cloud Application Services without Compromise
New solutions promote private, public, and hybrid cloud application deployments; Equinix
partnership enhances services flexibility and performance via direct, private access to cloud infrastructure
F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) today unveiled a series of solutions and innovations designed for customers requiring rich, consistent
application services across private, public, and hybrid cloud application deployments. In addition, F5 announced combined solutions
with Equinix Cloud Exchange and Performance Hub that empower enterprises to deploy business-critical applications in multiple public cloud
infrastructures with leading security, availability, and performance.
As businesses transform to digital-first organizations, applications and associated services are vital for competitive
differentiation. F5 is bringing these solutions to market as IT must enable both established and emerging environments to better
integrate DevOps practices, agile development, and cloud resources. F5 sits in a unique position at the convergence of cloud and
data center application services, enabling customers to embrace modern infrastructures without sacrificing security and
control.
“A digital economy means that applications and services must be easy to deploy, low-friction, and quick to scale to help
organizations pivot toward new market opportunities,” said Ryan Kearny, EVP of Product Development and CTO, F5. “Only F5 provides
programmable, feature-rich software and hardware to unify the delivery of apps across data center and cloud environments, including
container and microservices use cases. Our solutions further reduce deployment time through valuable integrations, native
orchestration capabilities, and compelling partnership solutions, such as our colocation offerings with Equinix.”
Migrating IT workflows to the cloud promises significant advantages, but can place unintended stress on parallel management,
security, and operations functions. While evolving their business models, organizations are challenged to deliver service
enhancements to keep up with the changing requirements of growing user counts, applications, and traffic volumes. As enterprises
travel different paths to the cloud, F5 is introducing technologies that bridge between established IT and more cloud-fluent
infrastructure models.
- The BIG-IP® iSeries™ line of
‘software-defined hardware’ Application Delivery Controllers
F5 is expanding its BIG-IP offerings with the iSeries. The new hardware platforms incorporate industry-leading programmability with support for node.js via iRules LX™, enabling customers to tailor their systems for evolving infrastructure needs. Unique to
the iSeries, F5’s TurboFlex™ technology enables selectable performance profiles to maximize investment protection and
deliver dedicated cloud, security, and app delivery optimizations. Similarly, iSeries platforms can be specifically configured to
support enhanced DDoS protection, as well as private cloud and SDN technologies from organizations such as OpenStack, Cisco, and VMware. Additional detail about F5’s iSeries platforms is available in this companion blog post.
- Partner solutions with Equinix for application delivery services in colocation
environments
F5’s comprehensive partnership with Equinix, leveraging both the Equinix Cloud Exchange and Performance Hub, enables enhanced global access to
application delivery and security services. Through the Equinix Cloud Exchange—available in 21 markets—F5 provides direct, seamless
access to its cloud services, bypassing the public Internet and thus increasing performance and security. And, by combining
the F5 cloud gateway with Equinix Performance Hub, customers can take advantage of a hybrid interconnection model, providing
high-speed and low-latency connectivity between multiple cloud providers and enterprise networks. The net result of F5 and Equinix
efforts is an optimized, secure application delivery model that delivers the utmost in application performance and user experience
possible. For more about F5’s collaboration with Equinix and cloud interconnect colocation, please see this Equinix blog post.
- Lightweight proxy and connector technologies to encourage cloud and hybrid deployments
F5 will expand its agile software portfolio with solutions that are simple to use and integrate with management and
orchestration tools. These technologies grant customers a more flexible approach to application deployment and better take
advantage of the operations gains and efficiency of the cloud. Specifically, F5 is introducing the following:
- Application Services Proxy provides basic load balancing and application traffic visibility in
a small, lightweight form factor that can quickly be deployed. This gives customers ultimate flexibility in developing, testing,
and scaling applications and associated services in concert with cloud and container environments.
-
Container Connector offerings enable the provisioning of services for containerized applications, and make it easy to
integrate capabilities from management/orchestration systems such as Kubernetes and Mesos/Marathon. For simple load balancing, Application Services Proxy can be used in highly portable
environments; for more substantial application delivery services, the connector automates provisioning to a BIG-IP solution.
- Application Connector dramatically simplifies access for enterprise applications hosted in the
public cloud, providing the security and availability services those applications require. To accomplish this, it delivers
application services from the edge of the cloud by automatically discovering cloud-hosted instances and connecting them to the
customer’s data center or hosted location.
Supporting Quotes
“F5 has defined goals of easing customers’ transition to the cloud and supporting their application-driven digital initiatives,”
said Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst, ZK Research. “Organizations can use the company’s hardware and virtual editions to migrate
services to a cloud, hosted, or hybrid environment, with F5 technology effectively serving as an advantageous gateway. In the F5
framework, customers and (their app developers) can select cloud providers without limiting services to individual applications,
confining themselves to restrictive use cases, or depending on shadow IT to support apps.”
“Today’s organizations are continually asking how they can provide crucial application services—such as identity federation and
SSO—in both on-premises and cloud environments,” said Greg Adgate, VP, Global Partnerships & Alliances, Equinix. “By offering
connectivity to critical applications via the Equinix Cloud Exchange and integrating them with our Performance Hub solution, we are
enabling customers to heighten productivity and enhance security to a globally distributed user base, and with lower costs.”
Availability
BIG-IP iSeries platforms are available now. Offerings from F5 and Equinix, along with related partnership details, are available
now. Please contact a local F5 sales office for additional product and service availability information pertaining to specific countries.
Formal availability for F5’s Application Services Proxy, Container Connector, and Application Connector technologies will be
announced at a later date.
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, iSeries, iRules LX, and TurboFlex 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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F5 Networks
Nathan Misner, 206-272-7494
n.misner@f5.com
or
WE Communications
Holly Lancaster, 415-547-7054
hluka@we-worldwide.com
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