July 12, 1999 08:13
F5 Networks Announces Unprecedented Performance Gains For BIG/ip Controller; Performance Upgrade on ITM Product Doubles Throughput For Internet Applications
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--July 12, 1999--F5 Networks Inc., (Nasdaq: FFIV), a leading provider of Internet Traffic Management (ITM) products, Monday announced it will release a new version of its BIG/ip(R) Controller that is capable of handling a much higher throughput -- to 350 Mb/s (up from 170 Mb/s), with a Q4/99 version already testing at 600 Mb/s.
The BIG/ip Controller provides businesses with "across the board" performance increases for a myriad of applications in various environments, including corporate sites, co-location facilities, and Intranet sites.
"This increase in performance benefits both new and existing customers," said Dan Matte, F5 director of product management. "Our existing customers under maintenance contract receive a free performance boost without having to replace hardware.
"In a sense, we're rewarding them for their decision to invest in F5 products. And new customers receive a faster platform that can be further enhanced by the new, rapidly developed feature additions that F5 is known for. Our platforms allow for these quick expansions, something that hardware-only platforms can't deliver."
Fast Upgrades
The BIG/ip Controller is a "turnkey" solution consisting of a combined hardware/software configuration. The nature of this design allows businesses to receive performance gains without upgrading expensive hardware. Gains are achieved through software advancements, not hardware alone.
Historically, F5 has introduced new functionality into this product three to four times a year. By comparison, most other ITM products receive upgrades every nine to 14 months, simply because a new hardware-based ASIC must be built -- a time consuming endeavor.
New Functionality Doesn't Sacrifice Performance
F5 is able to provide new and intelligent feature sets, without sacrificing product performance. Again, this is because of the flexible nature of the platform. Because F5 can materially change the behavior of BIG/ip by changing the software, BIG/ip's capabilities can more closely match customer needs with no degradation of overall performance.
Direct Return Technology
To further adapt to the specific customer requirements, BIG/ip also includes an optional mode called nPath. This is based on an assumption that 90 percent of server demands are outbound-related, with only 10 percent being inbound. nPath takes advantage of this, allowing servers to bypass BIG/ip when returning traffic back to the client.
A business involved in downloading streaming media, for example, can choose to engage this functionality. BIG/ip will then "concentrate" on the incoming traffic, resulting in much higher overall throughput.
Pricing & Availability
The new performance upgrades are now included on all BIG/ip HA+ Controller models. Software upgrades will be provided to current BIG/ip customers under maintenance contract, free of charge.
For additional details on BIG/ip Controller performance gains, please access: f5.com
About F5 Networks Inc.
F5 Internet Traffic Management products support a wide range of operating systems and hardware platforms including those from: Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq: SUNW), Hewlett Packard (NYSE: HWP), Compaq (NYSE: CPQ), Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL), IBM (NYSE: IBM) and Intel (Nasdaq: INTC).
F5 products work with leading IP-based applications, including legacy host, mainframe, Java, CORBA-based, and client/server applications from vendors such as SAP (NYSE: SAP), BAAN (Nasdaq: BAANF), Novell (Nasdaq: NOVL), Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL), and PeopleSoft (Nasdaq: PSFT).
F5 Networks Inc. provides high availability and Quality Control for business-critical Internet sites. Our mission is to provide the finest combined products and services to equip our customers with Quality Control of their servers, networks, content and network management. Quality Control is the means by which F5 customers assure their users always have a positive experience on their web site.
The company is headquartered in Seattle, and has offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Dallas, Chicago, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Washington, D.C., London, England, Munich, Germany, Singapore and Australia. F5 is located on the web at www.f5.com.
All trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners.
CONTACT: F5 Networks Inc.
Marc Goodman, 206/505-0834
m.goodman@f5.com
or
Connect Public Relations, 801/373-7888 (Trade Press)
hollyh@connectpr.com |
