F5 Networks, Inc. (F5 Networks), a US-based provider of Application Delivery Networking (ADN), has introduced a new F5 BIG-IP 8900 hardware platform. The new platform enables organizations to integrate advanced ADN functionality and consolidate their IT infrastructures to reduce power, space, and cooling requirements, and the associated costs. The 8900 hardware supports the new BIG-IP version 10 software, providing an ideal platform to unify application and data delivery services.
With this new platform, large enterprises and service providers can support extremely high levels of application traffic and integrate advanced optimization and security capabilities.
Today’s IT departments are being asked to scale back their budgets and, at the same time, deploy new applications that will drive revenue and increase workforce efficiency, said Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president of Enterprise Research at Yankee Group. IT is under tremendous pressure to lower operating costs while demonstrating immediate value for capital expenses. To succeed, IT organizations require flexible solutions that can consolidate legacy equipment and establish a forward-looking application delivery environment that can be aligned to business goals. Advanced Application Delivery Controllers like F5’s BIG-IP solutions help support the changing demands of the business by optimizing the IT infrastructure.
With an extensive portfolio of advanced Application Delivery Controller hardware offerings, the award-winning BIG-IP product family helps organizations implement a dynamic application delivery infrastructure to minimize management and operations costs. Combined with F5 Networks’ unified TMOS architecture-which gives BIG-IP platforms total visibility, scalability, and control across all services-the new 8900 system provides customers with more options in incorporating ADN functionality (acceleration, high availability, application security, etc.) to customize their application delivery environments to meet the changing needs of their organizations.
We originally chose F5 solutions for load balancing, but we found that by standardizing on the BIG-IP system, we could add security and optimization capabilities to our infrastructure as well, said Neil Manning, head of IT Security & Infrastructure at FNZ, a financial services provider with operations in New Zealand and the UK. From a budget and management perspective, by integrating advanced Application Delivery Controller functionality into a single device, we’re able to consolidate our physical infrastructure while optimizing the network and applications our multinational clients depend on. F5’s new 8900 is an ideal platform to unify application delivery services. With BIG-IP solutions, we can confidently and efficiently scale IT resources as we grow or as business priorities shift.
The new 8900 platform gives customers the power to:
Consolidate Infrastructure to Realize Cost Savings – With 12 Gb/s of L7 throughput, 58,000 SSL transactions per second, and 8 Gb/s of hardware compression, the 8900 enables the functional and physical consolidation of application delivery infrastructures, reducing management expenses and TCO. In addition, the new platform comes standard with Fast Cache, IPv6 Gateway, Rate Shaping, SSL Offload, and Intelligent Compression features to help organizations maximize the value of their Application Delivery Controller investments without adding more appliances.
Optimize Web Applications to Boost Workforce Efficiency: Today’s web applications require high-performance hardware to ensure availability and unified communication for users. With the performance capabilities of the BIG-IP 8900 system, organizations can optimize revenue-generating and collaborative applications to drive the business forward. The 8900 takes advantage of F5 Networks’ unique Clustered Multiprocessing (CMP) technology to achieve more than 6x the performance of competitive offerings, helping organizations optimize their infrastructure without availability issues.
Scale to Support Evolving Business Drivers: Building on F5 Networks’ unified TMOS architecture, the BIG-IP 8900 device gives organizations the ability to cost-effectively implement a viable ADN strategy and plan for future growth. In addition, the new platform supports simultaneous deployments of F5 Networks’ BIG-IP WebAccelerator and BIG-IP Application Security Manager software modules, integrating security and optimization capabilities into organizations’ application delivery infrastructure as required.
In the current economic climate, enterprises, service providers, and other organizations are searching for ways to streamline their IT infrastructures through consolidation, virtualization, and cloud computing initiatives, said Jason Needham, senior director of product management at F5 Networks. F5’s ADN solutions provide a flexible foundation capable of supporting a broad range of business initiatives, from infrastructure improvements and consolidation efforts to efficiently deploying and optimizing the applications users depend on. In combining industry-leading traffic processing capabilities with optimization, security, and acceleration services on a single device, F5’s BIG-IP solutions enable customers to align IT with their business needs and integrate additional capabilities as budgets allow.