F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced that it has extended its Application Ready Network (ARN) for Microsoft to include Windows Server 2008. Building on the previously announced solutions for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office Communications Server 2007, F5 is the only Application Delivery Networking vendor to offer validated, application-specific solutions to optimize end-to-end performance, availability, and scalability for key Microsoft applications.

Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is an advanced Windows Server-based operating system designed to power the next generation of networks, applications, and Web services. The F5® ARN for Windows Server 2008 will help enterprises achieve powerful deployment advantages including support for the updated versions of Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) and Terminal Services, as well as Microsoft technologies such as Windows PowerShell and SSTP (Secure Socket Tunneling Protocol).

With ARNs, F5 delivers the industry’s most comprehensive application-specific products, tools, templates, and deployment guides to reduce the costs associated with application deployment, management, and operation. F5 ARNs offer step-by-step procedures with thorough deployment and application guides to help facilitate cooperation across organizations’ application and networking groups, reducing the risk of missed deployment deadlines, over-budget projects, and failed or poorly adopted application deployments. Each ARN solution has been meticulously tested in F5’s Technology Center, with repeatable deployment configurations documented to enable customers to reap the benefits of F5’s application delivery expertise.

“Application deployment and upgrades can be expensive and time-consuming tasks,” said Zeus Kerravala, SVP of Enterprise Research at Yankee Group. “Because each application interacts with the network in a unique way, particular network configurations may affect performance, availability, and so forth. With an ARN from F5 for applications like Microsoft Windows Server 2008, enterprises can tune their application delivery environments to optimize an application’s interaction with the network and end-users, resulting in easier, less expensive, and ultimately more successful application roll-outs.”

F5’s long-standing relationship with Microsoft has resulted in several key achievements on the development side, yielding significant features that differentiate F5:

New Terminal Services Engine – Ensures enterprise-class user persistence on both IPv4 and IPv6 networks, shielding users from the consequences of unanticipated network drops.

Unique IIS acceleration technologies – Enables the F5 solution to deliver more content faster to users. This is accomplished through the BIG-IP® product’s intelligent browser level caching, compression, and HTTP/TCP optimizations.

New flexible Windows PowerShell tools – Provides customers with a much wider variety of useful options to maintain and configure their F5 devices. For example, customers can integrate their BIG-IP system configurations with third-party applications for seamless management. For more information, see PowerShell labs on DevCentralSM.

“Today’s IT customers are looking for increased dependability, scalability, and security capabilities,” said Ward Ralston, Group Technical Product Manager for Windows Server Marketing at Microsoft Corp. “With F5’s Application Ready Network supporting Windows Server 2008, customers can achieve a highly reliable infrastructure for their business-critical applications.”

“Windows Server is one of the most popular application platforms that we see within our enterprise customer base,” said Jim Ritchings, VP of Business Development at F5. “As such, F5 has put substantial resources into testing its application delivery portfolio with the Windows Server platform technologies through every step of the beta to maintain a high level of interoperability. Microsoft has invested significant resources into building a new and optimized TCP stack within Windows Server 2008, and as the leader in Application Delivery Networking, F5 has matched those efforts by ensuring that our technologies work in concert to provide our customers with the fastest and most optimal experience.”

For more information on F5’s collaboration with Microsoft, including links to specific ARN deployment and application guides, please visit www.f5.com/microsoft.

About F5 Networks

F5 Networks is the global leader in Application Delivery Networking. F5 provides solutions that make applications secure, fast, and available for everyone. By adding intelligence and manageability into the network to offload applications and optimize the data storage layer, F5 extends the power of intelligent networking to all levels of application delivery. F5’s extensible architecture intelligently integrates application optimization, protects the application and the network, and delivers application reliability. Over 16,000 organizations and service providers worldwide trust F5 to keep their applications running. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices worldwide. For more information, go to www.f5.com.

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Contacts:

F5 Networks
Alane Moran, 206-272-6850
a.moran@f5.com
or
Connect Public Relations
Holly Hagerman, 801-373-7888
hollyh@connectpr.com