F5 Networks' BIG-IP Link Controller promises to intelligently manage traffic over redundant links and remove the complexities of deploying a multi-homed network.

by Wayne Kawamoto [January 2, 2002]

F5 Networks Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), a provider of Internet Traffic and Content Management (iTCM) products, announced its BIG-IP Link Controller, an ISP link load balancing solution that promises to transparently load balance inbound and outbound traffic across multiple Internet connections.

According to the company, its BIG-IP Link Controller enables those customers who have more than one link to the Internet or a private network to intelligently monitor and control traffic so users are routed over the best Internet link for optimal performance and guaranteed availability in the event of an outage, link failure, or link congestion.

The company says that its BIG-IP Link Controller addresses the needs of any Internet service provider, enterprise, or organization that needs reliable connectivity, increased traffic control, and improved scalability on their Internet connections. The company claims that organizations will be able to deploy multiple links, and transparently load balance IP-based traffic across all links, which may ensure the highest return on their bandwidth investment.

Customers may also benefit by gaining granular control of how their links are being utilized and how traffic is routed.

"The mission critical nature of Web-based applications are demanding that enterprises increase the availability and performance of Internet connectivity by using multiple ISP connections to their data centers," said Mark Fabbi, vice president and research director, Gartner Inc. "Over time, this functionality will become a critical component of a complete Internet traffic management solution."

"This solution is really a logical extension to F5's core traffic management competencies," said Dan Matte, senior director of product management at F5 Networks. "A number of our customers around the world are already relying on our products to provide guaranteed availability and increased ROI for servers, multiple sites and redundant Internet connections.

"Now we have simply extended that protection to single sites that rely on multiple Internet connections for uptime," added Mette. "Under the current economic conditions, some customers are selecting this approach over multiple data centers. BIG-IP Link Controller removes the headaches customers face when attempting to coordinate how traffic should continue to flow in the event that a connection fails."

Availability
BIG-IP Link Controller will be available first quarter of calendar year 2002. Pricing was unavailable at press time.

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