F5 Networks, Inc., (NASDAQ:FFIV) the global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), today announced that RelayHealth has chosen F5® BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager™ (LTM™) and Global Traffic Manager™ (GTM™) to optimize the performance and availability of its web-based retail pharmacy applications. RelayHealth provides a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform designed to facilitate the exchange of information between pharmacies, hospitals and health systems, payors, physicians, and patients. At RelayHealth, F5 solutions help support an infrastructure that securely processes approximately 11 billion retail pharmacy financial and clinical transactions each year.

“BIG-IP LTM and GTM have helped us develop a more agile, dynamic data center infrastructure that provides improved reliability and faster response times in an easy-to-manage environment,” said Scott Lokey, Manager of Network Engineering at RelayHealth. “And now, for the first time, we can deploy applications on both sides of the country, significantly reducing user wait times and boosting application performance.”

The BIG-IP devices route Internet traffic to RelayHealth’s pharmacy data centers in Atlanta and Sacramento, and optimize application delivery across hundreds of physical and virtual servers. These servers run Linux, UNIX, Windows, and other operating systems, with connectivity protocols ranging from legacy serial connectivity to modern TCP/IP. The BIG-IP devices also store all SSL certificates and handle encryption and decryption for application traffic—functions that previously had to be managed separately on each server.

Using advanced features in BIG-IP LTM, such as TCP optimization and intelligent compression, users experience response times that are two to three times faster. And because each BIG-IP LTM can manage multiple applications, the solution significantly reduces hardware requirements. This simplifies network management as well as reducing power, cooling, and related costs.

In addition, BIG-IP LTM’s SSL termination and customizable iRules™ scripting capabilities mean that RelayHealth’s pharmacy application developers no longer need to write custom code for load balancing, SSL, and other application delivery functions. As a result, deploying an application into production takes roughly 30 percent less time, accelerating the pace of user adoption and enhancing infrastructure agility.

“In the U.S., the Obama administration is calling for healthcare programs that focus on lowering healthcare costs through continued investment in the technologies supporting the industry,” noted Lokey. “F5’s solutions help us improve the quality and continuity of patient care through enhanced collaboration. At the same time, they provide a scalable application delivery infrastructure that we can build on and continually improve.”

“F5’s BIG-IP solutions have the flexibility to support a broad range of computing environments, making them a perfect fit for companies like RelayHealth that use many different operating systems and connectivity protocols,” said Jason Needham, Senior Director of Product Management at F5. “With BIG-IP devices, organizations are able to tailor application delivery and performance to best address their IT initiatives. With the scalability and agility our solutions provide, F5 is now a strategic component of RelayHealth’s IT pharmacy infrastructure.”

About RelayHealth

RelayHealth, McKesson’s connectivity business, operates as a neutral partner in an open network environment, offering connectivity services and integration among all organizations, systems, and solutions. Its intelligent network is designed to streamline clinical, financial, and administrative communication between patients, providers, payors, pharmacies, pharmaceutical manufacturers, and financial institutions. RelayHealth works to accelerate the delivery of high-quality care and improve financial performance through solutions such as online consultation of physicians by patients, electronic prescribing, point-of-service pharmacy claims resolution by payors, pre-visit patient financial clearance by providers, and post-visit provider bill settlement by payors and patients. RelayHealth securely processes more than 12.8 billion financial and clinical transactions annually. For more information, call 800–778–6711, or visit our Web site at www.relayhealth.com.

About F5 Networks

F5 Networks is the global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), focused on ensuring the secure, reliable, and fast delivery of applications. F5’s flexible architectural framework enables community-driven innovation that helps organizations enhance IT agility and dynamically deliver services that generate true business value. F5’s vision of unified application and data delivery offers customers an unprecedented level of choice in how they deploy ADN solutions. It redefines the management of application, server, storage, and network resources, streamlining application delivery and reducing costs. Global enterprise organizations, service and cloud providers, and Web 2.0 content providers trust F5 to keep their business moving forward. For more information, go to www.f5.com.

F5, BIG-IP, Local Traffic Manager, LTM, Global Traffic Manager, GTM, and iRules are trademarks or service marks of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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.