F5 Networks (NASDAQ: FFIV) and Siemens Convergence Creators GmbH announced today that they have successfully completed comprehensive interoperability tests of F5’s BIG-IP® Policy Enforcement Manager™ (PEM™), and Siemens Convergence Creators’ policy and charging rules function (PCRF) product, Siemens Policy Manager (SPM).

To continue delivering the rich content subscribers want, Communication Service Providers (CSPs) need an intelligent solution that can dynamically manage network resources and enable new pricing and business models. This versatility can also help minimize churn by providing significant additional value to subscribers. Confirmed interoperability of these leading products across a diverse set of use cases will facilitate rapid co-deployments, thereby helping CSPs deliver a best-in-class customer experience.

Historically, services such as video on demand and online TV streaming have posed a challenge to CSPs when it comes to maintaining profitability, as these services can eat up an increasing amount of network bandwidth while many subscribers pay only a flat rate for data services.

Combining F5 and Siemens technology gives operators the ability to monetize networks by enabling them to customize rate plans for different types of use cases and subscribers. Also, CSPs can generate additional revenues by creating subscription plans that are tailored to fit their strategic business goals.

Solution Details

Siemens Policy Manager manages network and subscriber policies according to business needs and priorities. It weighs and evaluates millions of parallel sessions and makes efficient decisions to solve problems in real-time, helping CSPs deliver the Quality of Service (QoS) their subscribers have paid for. SPM also makes available a wide range of pre-configured use cases to choose from, and provides compelling tools to easily adapt plans to further differentiate from competitive offerings.

F5’s BIG-IP PEM serves as the policy enforcement engine for the joint solution. Essentially, it understands the type of traffic being transferred on the network and can forward, steer, chain, and apply QoS (prioritization, rate-limiting, etc.) as needed via powerful application and subscriber-aware policies. This visibility into the specific nature of traffic traversing the network also provides opportunities to layer in additional services—such as optimization or security—where and when needed.

Joint customers can set policies to meet their business needs (such as tiered/premium service offerings or plans) with Siemens’ PCRF capabilities, while BIG-IP PEM provides the awareness and enforcement necessary to assure policies are carried out appropriately based on network and user conditions specific to the services being delivered.

Supporting Quotes

“Through our partnership ecosystem, we seek out opportunities that give customers the most value for their technology investments, while preserving the ability to evolve their infrastructures over time. The F5 Synthesis™ architectural vision promotes integration and interoperability testing efforts with leading companies like Siemens to help CSPs confidently deploy adjacent technologies and realize benefits beyond what individual vendors can provide.”

Mallik Tatipamula, VP of Service Provider Solutions, F5

“Our strategy focuses on leveraging partnerships like the one with F5 to enhance customer benefits. The pre-tested solution of F5’s BIG-IP PEM and Siemens Policy Manager will give our CSP customers a head start in applying policies to control and manage network resources. This will allow them to effectively and quickly adapt to changing market trends and demands, and provide new monetization options for services such as video on demand or streaming. These capabilities are made possible by adopting a traffic architecture that provides for equitable sharing of revenue between content and network providers.”

Roland Steiner, VP, head of LTE business unit at Siemens Convergence Creators

Availability

Both Siemens Policy Manager and F5 BIG-IP PEM are available now. To learn more about the joint solution and availability in specific countries, contact a local Siemens sales office and your local F5 sales office.

About Siemens Convergence Creators

Siemens Convergence Creators GmbH, headquartered in Vienna, provides its customers with innovative products, turnkey solutions and services in the fields of communication networks, service and customer management, public safety and security, multimedia infotainment, as well as space technology.

Among the most important customers are the top players in their respective industrial sectors, i.e. telecommunications, media (TV, publishing houses), transport (cruise ships, railways, aircraft manufacturers, airlines and airports), space, public safety (action forces) and energy (wind power, oil and gas).

Siemens Convergence Creators’ presence in emerging and mature markets like Central and Eastern Europe, Germany, USA, India, and China together with its powerful network of partners provides a strong basis for activities all over the world.

For more information please visit us at: http://www.siemens.at/convergence-creators

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, BIG-IP, Policy Enforcement Manager, and PEM 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.