F5 Expands ARX Portfolio, Delivers Enterprise-Class File Virtualization to Mid-Range Storage Environments

SEATTLE, December 8, 2009  F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), today announced immediate availability of the ARX2000, a new hardware platform that rounds out the industry-leading F5 ARX family of file virtualization solutions. Designed especially to meet the scalability and performance needs of mid-to-large size storage environments, the ARX2000 enables these organizations to more effectively address rapid data growth while reducing the cost and complexity of data management.

F5 is also introducing a new version of its Data Management Operating System, which provides ARX solutions with enhanced support for Microsoft/CIFS storage environments, and enables greater scalability for tier 2 deduplication platforms. A new version of the F5 Data Manager software management tool is also being announced today, featuring added functionality that will allow the company's North American ARX?? Select program partners to more easily assess a customer's storage environment.

Like the existing members of the ARX family, the ARX2000 introduces intelligent file virtualization into the file storage infrastructure to reduce environmental complexity. Virtualization eliminates the static mapping between client and storage resources, allowing data to move freely between resources without impacting applications or users. In addition, ARX offers policy-based management to simplify and automate data management tasks, such as data migration, storage tiering, and capacity balancing. The result is a dramatic improvement in cost, agility, and business efficiency.

The enterprise-class ARX product family also includes the ARX500 and ARX1000 for small to mid-size storage environments, and the ARX4000 for large environments. The ARX2000 fits neatly in the middle, offering mid-size environments twice the virtualization scale and connectivity as the ARX1000 at a modest premium.

The ARX2000 and the updated Data Management Operating System v5.1 are available today. Data Manager v2.6 will be available in mid-December.