F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV) today announced new hybrid service capabilities to help organizations scale IT resources across dynamic cloud and data center deployments. Under the company’s new Silverline™ banner, F5 will offer extended security, optimization, and availability services from hosted and managed infrastructure, marking F5’s entrance into the cloud services delivery space.

The F5 Silverline services delivery platform expands the company’s F5 Synthesis™ architecture to enable application services within customers’ deployment model of choice: on-premises and/or as-a-service. Beginning with DDoS protection and security intelligence services, the Silverline platform will support additional application delivery capabilities as-a-service in the future.

DETAILS

Ongoing migration of applications to the cloud, increased user and resource mobility, and an ascension of sophisticated threats have led to the dissolution of the traditional enterprise perimeter. This requires organizations to pursue a unified services platform that spans integrated data center and cloud deployments.

With Silverline, F5 is broadening the reach and utility of its services fabric to promote nimble IT infrastructures. F5’s investment in hybrid services delivery and security intelligence licensing options mirrors the industry’s rising interest in providing programmable application delivery capabilities across physical and virtual infrastructures to support Software Defined Application Services™ and other software-defined initiatives.

F5’s Silverline hybrid application delivery services and security intelligence offerings include:

  • DDoS Protection Services

Today’s announcement sees the global introduction of the F5 Silverline DDoS Protection offering. This solution builds on F5’s acquisition of Defense.Net™, combining on-premises DDoS protection capabilities with a high-capacity cloud service that can take advantage of programmable technologies like iRules® and APIs for customized performance. This approach provides a hybrid solution capable of absorbing and mitigating a complete spectrum of DDoS attacks.

F5’s open and programmable architecture enables network security administrators to extend custom rules to mitigate zero-day attacks. This offering works seamlessly with F5’s Application Delivery Controller (ADC) solutions to create the most complete DDoS protection solution. F5 provides tiered protection levels, based on customers’ unique needs and potential attack profiles:

  • Always On™ – First line of defense. This subscription continuously stops bad traffic from reaching the network.
  • Always Available™ – Primary protection on demand. This subscription runs on stand-by and can be initiated as needed when under attack.
  • Ready Defense™ – Secondary DDoS protection. This subscription provides additional capacity to bolster DDoS mitigation capabilities.
  • Secure Web Gateway Services

Secure Web Gateway Services protect organizations from threats associated with employee (or outbound) Internet use. Through a partnership with Websense, F5 Secure Web Gateway Services can limit target activities to encourage productivity and enhance defenses against malware, corporate malfeasance, and other attacks against networked environments. Taking advantage of F5’s Silverline platform, signatures and other context-based information are provided via the cloud to the BIG-IP® solution. This approach ensures the most up-to-date Internet context is part of an organization’s compliance and web security policy.

  • IP Intelligence Services

F5’s IP Intelligence Services make it easy for organizations to incorporate IP reputation and blocking capabilities into their overall web security postures. In a convenient subscription model, F5 IP Intelligence Services enable BIG-IP to recognize and mitigate malicious activity—such as phishing or botnets—and boost efficiency by filtering out bad traffic before it impacts precious IT resources. Similar to F5’s approach to Secure Web Gateway Services, reputation information is provided via the cloud to detect threats based on the latest intelligence available, removing the operational burden of sourcing this information from the data center.

SUPPORTING QUOTES

“Organizations are looking for the ability to cost-effectively deliver applications without constraints, with specific IT components as a secondary concern. F5’s goal with the Synthesis framework is simply to remove barriers to deploying and scaling application services. Our Silverline offerings will make core F5 technologies available as-a-service to help customers embrace hybrid deployments without forsaking the benefits they’ve seen in the data center.”

Manny Rivelo, EVP of Strategic Solutions, F5

“Efficiently scaling application services such as optimization, security, and availability is still a priority topic for enterprise organizations, even as we’ve seen an evolution of how (and where) these services are applied. F5’s move into hybrid application delivery services should open up new opportunities with customers looking to move applications out of their traditional data center environments and take advantage of the flexibility offered by cloud providers.”

Zeus Kerravala, Principal Analyst, ZK Research

“Cloud-based services are of increasing interest to customers, and we see F5 wisely addressing the industry’s momentum around hybrid deployment models. Starting with the DDoS protection offering, we expect the company’s Silverline platform will provide an effective means to bring additional application services to market.”

Dan Wilson, Co-Founder and EVP, Partner Solutions, Accuvant

AVAILABILITY

Unless otherwise indicated, the specific F5 technologies mentioned in this announcement are available now. Please contact a local F5 sales office for additional product availability information pertaining to particular countries.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

  • F5 Synthesis: To Boldly Go Where No ADC Has Gone Before – DevCentral Blog
  • F5 Silverline DDoS Protection – DevCentral Blog
  • Silverline DDoS Protection – Solution Information

ABOUT F5

F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) provides solutions for an application world. F5 helps organizations seamlessly scale cloud, data center, and software defined networking (SDN) deployments to successfully deliver applications 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 data center 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 Facebook for more information about F5, its partners, and technologies.

F5, F5 Synthesis, F5 Silverline, Software Defined Application Services, Defense.Net, iRules, BIG-IP, and DevCentral are trademarks or service marks of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries.

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.