F5 Networks is a leading provider of technology that optimizes the delivery
of network-based applications and the security, performance and availability
of servers, data storage devices and other network resources. As strategic points
of control within a network, our products collectively function as a dynamic
control plane that simplifies the management of data center operations and delivery
of services across diverse data center resources.
Founded in 1996, F5 Networks pioneered load-balancing technology that distributes
internet traffic evenly across multiple servers, making them look like a single
device. Today, our BIG-IP application delivery controllers sit in front of web
and application servers, balancing traffic and performing compute-intensive
functions such as encrypting and un-encrypting transmissions, screening traffic
for security threats, maintaining open connections with servers, speeding the
flow of traffic, managing access to applications and data and a variety of other
functions that improve the performance, availability and security of applications.
By offloading functions from servers, BIG-IP application delivery controllers
make servers more efficient, reduce the number of servers needed to run specific
applications and reduce operating costs by simplifying the management of servers
and applications. In virtual environments, this allows customers to increase
the density of virtual servers running on physical servers and reduces the added
complexity of managing a dynamic environment. BIG-IP application delivery controllers
also support software modules that manage the flow of traffic between multiple
data centers and across multiple service provider connections, ensuring that
this traffic is always routed to the most available resource and enabling on-demand
access to resources within and outside customer data centers. In addition, we
offer complementary products that provide secure remote access to corporate
networks and optimize the delivery of applications and data over wide-area networks.
The core of our application delivery controllers and related products is our
full-proxy Traffic Management Operating System (TMOS) that enables these products
to inspect and modify traffic flows to and from servers at network speed and
supports a broad and growing array of functions that enhance the speed, performance
and availability of applications. iRules, a scripting language based on TCL
(Tool Command Language), is a unique feature of TMOS that enables customers
and third parties to write customized rules to inspect and modify traffic. TMOS
also supports a common software interface called iControl, which enables our
products to communicate with one another and with third-party products, including
custom and commercial enterprise applications. TMOS is designed to support the
addition of new functionality as software modules and to exploit the performance-enhancing
features of our purpose-built hardware platforms. Correspondingly, our hardware
architecture integrates industry standard components with the unique features
and characteristics of TMOS to deliver performance that is, we believe, demonstrably
superior to competing products.
Just as our application delivery controllers make many servers look like one,
ARX storage virtualization products sit in front of network attached storage
(NAS), making multiple storage devices from different vendors look like a single
device to the individual clients, servers and applications that use them. This
frees users and storage administrators from the time-consuming task of mapping
individual drives to specific clients and applications. In addition, ARX products
simplify the migration of data between storage devices, the addition of new
storage devices, and the distribution of data across tiers of storage that reflect
the relative importance or immediacy of the data.
In connection with our products, we offer a broad range of services including
consulting, training, installation, maintenance and other technical support
services.
Customers
Our customers include a wide variety of enterprise customers and service providers
among Fortune 1000 and Business Week Global 1000 companies, including those
in technology, telecommunications, financial services, transportation, education,
manufacturing and healthcare, along with government customers.
Competition
The expanding capabilities of our product offerings have enabled us to address
a growing array of opportunities, many of which are outside the bounds of the
traditional Layer 4-7 market. Within what Gartner Group has defined as the Application
Acceleration market, we compete in the Application Delivery Controller (ADC)
market, which encompasses the traditional Layer 4-7 market, and, to a lesser
extent, the WAN Optimization Controller (WOC) market. Over the next several
years, we believe these two markets will merge as WAN optimization effectively
becomes a feature of Application Delivery. Today, we offer WebAccelerator and
WOM as software modules on most all BIG-IP products.
Our products and services were sold into the ADN market where our primary competitor
is Cisco Systems, Inc. Other competitors in this market include Citrix Systems,
Inc., Brocade Communications Systems, Inc., Radware Ltd, and a number of smaller
competitors including A10 Networks, Array Networks, Inc., Barracuda Networks,
Inc., Crescendo Networks, and Zeus Technology Ltd. In the adjacent WAN Optimization
Controller market, we compete with Riverbed Technology, Inc., Juniper Networks,
Inc., Blue Coat Systems, Inc., Cisco and Citrix. Currently, we do not compete
in the branch office segment of the WOC market, which features products offered
by Riverbed, Blue Coat, Cisco and others.
While file virtualization remains an early-stage market, we believe our ARX
products are unique in terms of technology and functionality and are well positioned
within this emerging market. Large storage vendors such as EMC Corporation offer
competing products with overlapping functionality. However, we believe there
are no competing products that offer all of the features, functions and capabilities
of our ARX products.