Still Under Construction
While F5 has ported WebAccelerator to run on TMOS, integration with other F5 services is a work in progress. WebAccelerator is managed from the BIG-IP LTM (local traffic management) console and has its own policy management system as part of the management GUI, says Joe Hicks, a product manager at F5. Hicks says that WebAccelerator can run concurrently with all BIG-IP modules, with the exception of F5's Application Security Manager, though he adds that these can work together.
F5's competitors are also struggling to achieve integration. Citrix, for instance, sees room for a united platform but says it believes that a common management interface is most important at this time, and so has concentrated its energies there.
Despite big vendor plans, it remains to be seen just what the enterprise market is seeking in terms of a combined AFE and WAN accelerator—or if it's looking for anything at all. Juniper Networks, Citrix and Cisco also went on shopping sprees in 2005 and 2006, with Juniper picking up Peribit Networks and Redline Networks, Citrix buying Orbital Data Corp. and NetScaler, and Cisco acquiring FineGround Networks on top of its earlier ArrowPoint Communications purchase. In each of these cases, WAN acceleration and AFE remain separate functions on separate platforms.
Furthermore, in most enterprises, the decision to implement these products is driven by different groups. The networking team is likely to feel the pain that leads to buying a WAN accelerator, while the application group, or even line of business, is more apt to drive the purchase of an AFE. This reality alone may obviate the single-platform advantage F5 is banking on.
Still, F5 has a good value proposition for those creating Web-services-based applications with components that will be used both inside the company and by business partners. It has had extensive experience with applications from the likes of Oracle, Microsoft Corp., IBM and others, and can apply its knowledge in asymmetrical acceleration to the symmetrical problem. As Ajax continues to gain in popularity, there's a significant opportunity to manage its "chatty" nature.
By combining resources and expertise, the AI-Enabled ICT Workforce Consortium will offer a blueprint for how industries can adapt to an AI-dominated future.
IT leaders should heed the guidance of cybersecurity insurance providers who think businesses should prioritize security education, incident preparedness, regular internal audits, and ongoing vulnerability scanning and patching.
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