F5 Networks Unveils Strategic Roadmap Laying the Foundation for the Next Generation e-Business Infrastructure
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2000--
Strategic partnerships, next generation products and
new product strategy strengthen F5's market leadership for
Internet traffic and content management for service providers,
enterprises, and e-commerce businesses
F5 Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FFIV) announced today its strategy to lead the market in
Internet traffic and content management by developing products and partnerships
that take advantage of the increasing convergence of server and network
technologies.
F5 is launching technology development initiatives to dramatically increase the
performance of its Internet traffic management products and to provide new
intelligent content management capabilities. F5 is also launching a new strategic
partnership initiative to form OEM relationships with leading Internet server and
switch vendors who, using F5's Internet traffic and content management technology,
will be able to provide comprehensive product offerings. F5 Networks is the leading
provider of Internet traffic and content management (iTCM) products.
"Companies are looking for strategic building blocks that will enable them to deploy
a scalable network infrastructure to support both short and long-term needs on a
global scale," said John Armstrong, VP and Chief Analyst, Dataquest. "I expect to
see more strategic alliances between best-of-breed Internet traffic and content
management offerings and enterprise hardware platforms, with the ultimate goal of
delivering powerful e-Business solutions for customers."
Technology Development Initiatives Advanced Network Processing. Internal
development projects are underway to accelerate the performance of F5's flagship
product, the BIG-IP(R) Controller, using advanced network processor technology.
This initiative will maximize the advantage of F5's appliance-based approach by
combining state of the art software functionality with advanced network processor
hardware to provide wire-speed gigabit performance along with the rich functionality
our customers now enjoy. Advanced versions of BIG-IP(R) Controller software are
being developed that off-load packet handling functions onto the network processor
and enable the main processor to support greater performance and advanced
functionality. The network processor technology will be delivered in the form of
add-on boards, allowing F5's large install base to upgrade existing systems in the
field and protect investments in existing F5 products. Products based on this
initiative, including upgrades for F5's current BIG-IP(R) Controller, are expected to be
available this summer.
Advanced Security Processing for SSL Transactions. Internal development projects
are underway to accelerate the performance of servers performing secure
transactions when used with F5's flagship product, the BIG-IP(R) Controller, using
advanced security processor technology. This initiative will maximize the advantage
of F5's appliance-based approach by combining state-of-the-art software
functionality with advanced security processor hardware -- providing improved server
performance by off-loading the processing of SSL transactions. This capability will
be delivered in the form of add-on boards, which will be field-upgradeable for F5's
current customers, and added into future F5 products and partner offerings.
Products based on this initiative, including upgrades for F5's current BIG-IP(R)
Controller, are expected to be available this Spring.
Intelligent Content Management. F5 is making significant advancements toward
delivering the "self tuning" management of Internet content by integrating the
capabilities of F5's entire product suite, the BIG-IP(R), 3-DNS(R) and
GLOBAL-SITE(TM) Controllers and the SEE-IT(TM) Network Manager. This initiative
will enable F5's products to automatically know where and when to replicate content
to servers and caches worldwide, directing Internet traffic to the nearest copy of the
requested content and around network or server trouble spots. This capability will
help provide the framework for supporting advanced Content Distribution Networks
through the integration of F5's product suite with third party server and cache product
offerings. The key markets for this offering include: (1) Existing companies that
provide content delivery services; (2) Network providers who wish to offer their own
private-label services; and (3) Enterprise organizations that want to build out their
own private delivery systems.
"As the leading provider of music samples and data for Internet retailers, we're
pleased with F5's direction. It opens the door to new business opportunities by
enhancing our ability to support these retailers' efforts to sell more music," said
Craig Johnson, WAN Engineering Manager at DiscoverMusic.com. "F5's strategy
demonstrates that it has a clear understanding of where global e-Business is
heading and how the network infrastructure must be designed to effectively support
it."
Strategic Partner Initiatives
In addition to delivering products through direct and indirect global channels, F5 will
provide its software and network processor technology on an OEM basis to key
server and switch vendors. By integrating F5's technology into their platforms, server
and switch vendors can provide a more comprehensive network and content
management solution for their customers. Server OEM's will be able to integrate F5
software, network processor, and security processor technology into their platform
offerings to provide complete "ShrinkRack(TM)" solutions to their customers. Switch
OEM's will be able to integrate F5 software, network processor, and security
processor technology into their switch offerings to provide advanced features and
functionality. F5 is well positioned to successfully embed its technology into these
platforms, and has already established successful relationships with server vendor
Hewlett Packard, and switch vendors 3Com, Extreme and Cabletron.
"F5's continuous product evolution leverages their core strengths to produce
innovations that hit the sweet-spot of today's e-Commerce infrastructure needs,"
said Nigel Oakley, Vice-President of Customer Marketing at 3Com. "Partnering with
F5, 3Com is able to unite best-of-breed products, the CoreBuilder 9000 Chassis
and BIG/ip Controller, to offer customers a one-stop, cohesive e-Business solution,
laying the foundation for e-Networks and inevitably, e-Commerce success."
"This announcement further articulates our strategy and demonstrates our market
and technology leadership," said Jeff Hussey, Chairman, President and Chief
Executive Officer at F5 Networks. "F5 is defining and delivering the components
necessary to support the e-Business infrastructure of the future."
About F5 Networks
F5 Networks is a leader in Internet Traffic and Content Management products. The
Company's integrated suite of high-performance products automatically and
intelligently manage Internet traffic and content to improve the availability and
performance of mission-critical Internet servers and applications. F5 Networks
helps companies avoid the risk of being burdened with ill-performing networks that
do not meet end user expectations, while enabling network administrators to better
control and predict the performance of their infrastructure. F5 Networks' products are
designed to provide a new level of fault tolerance by shielding users from system
failure; optimizing response times to user requests and data flow; and
cost-effectively managing an organization's Internet infrastructure. The company is
headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago,
Dallas, Columbus, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington,
D.C., Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, The Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden and the
United Kingdom. F5 Networks is located on the web at www.f5.com.
F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV - news) Internet Traffic Management products support
a wide range of operating systems and hardware platforms including those from:
Sun Microsystems (NASDAQ:SUNW - news), Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HWP - news),
Compaq (NYSE: CPQ - news), Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT - news), Apple
(NASDAQ:AAPL - news), IBM (NYSE:IBM - news) and Intel (NASDAQ:INTC - news).
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 - news), BAAN (NASDAQ:BAANF - news), Novell (NASDAQ:NOVL
- news), Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL - news), and PeopleSoft (NASDAQ:PSFT - news).
Statements in this press release concerning development of F5's product portfolio
and future enhancements of F5's products including the development of advanced
network processor hardware , anticipated performance improvements for the
BIG-IP(R) Controller, advanced
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