F5 Networks is making over its flagship Big-IP traffic management platform this week with the launch of new software and hardware aimed at securing and improving the performance of Web and legacy applications.
At the heart of Big-IP version 9 is F5's new Traffic Management Operating System, an architecture that integrates features typically offered on multiple devices, including content acceleration, traffic compression, connection optimization, rate shaping, denial-of- service protection, SSL acceleration and an application firewall.
Version 9 also adds bi-directional application flow management in a feature dubbed fast application proxy, which enables the system to monitor a full session between client and server rather than packet by packet, said Erik Giesa, vice president of product management and marketing at F5, Seattle.
"Full proxy is absolutely huge," said David Lesser, president and CTO of Nexum, a security solution provider in Chicago, adding the new platform will help Nexum beef up its business-continuity solutions.
"You can now understand where the traffic is coming from," Lesser said. "If a user connects through dial-up, you can see that it's a low-bandwidth link and decide if you want to compress packets for improved performance."
Making the jump from outdated legacy technology to a more modern digital infrastructure will allow businesses to innovate at the speed and scale needed in today’s marketplace.
The business world is speeding up. The longer IT leaders wait to get their needs met, the more at risk their businesses and their jobs will be.
By arming SD-WAN networks with end-to-end intelligence, analytics-driven predictions, and predictive automation solutions, IT teams can simplify infrastructure management and assure higher levels of quality experiences for users.
