F5 Solutions Optimize Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Deployments

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New F5 Application Ready Solutions offer high performance, availability, and scalability for Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 to support an increasingly mobile workforce

SEATTLE, November 23, 2009-F5 Networks, Inc.(NASDAQ:

title="View F5 Listing on NASDAQ">FFIV

), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking (ADN), today announced the release of new Application Ready Solutions for Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. These F5^®solutions provide support for Microsoft's recently released

title="DirectAccess">DirectAccess

and

title="BranchCache">BranchCache

technologies, which are new features of the Windows^®7 and Windows Server^®2008 R2 operating systems.

Along with the release of Exchange 2010 and Forefront Protection 2010 for Exchange Server, this announcement is the latest in a series of solution updates from F5 Networks aimed at improving scalability and performance of business-critical applications from Microsoft. F5 Application Ready Solutions help to increase the capacity of Windows servers by offloading CPU-intensive operations, and ensure that F5^®

title="Application Delivery Controllers">Application Delivery Controllers

(ADCs) are optimized for Microsoft environments.

Details

Microsoft DirectAccess provides easier remote access to corporate resources with comprehensive management capabilities and integrated security enforcement, which allows IT departments to manage remote access at a lower cost. The F5 solution for DirectAccess enables enterprise customers to scale their deployments and enjoy the same benefits of other ADC-optimized applications.

title="BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager">BIG-IP^®Local Traffic Manager

^™can proxy DirectAccess connections to ensure that users have quick access to the best-performing server resources, improving the performance and scalability of DirectAccess across multiple servers.

In addition, F5's customizableiRules

^™commands enable IT organizations to ensure that specific client requests will be routed through the appropriate DirectAccess server. The specific iRule enabling this functionality is freely available in a

title="recent DirectAccess-focused post">recent DirectAccess-focused post

on F5's user community site,DevCentral

^SM. The post includes a description of how the iRule is used, what it does, and how to configure it. With iRules, IT organizations retain DirectAccess functionality in large deployments with multiple DirectAccess servers without compromising functionality or security.

Branch office users are traditionally challenged by low bandwidth connections to the files and web content they need to accomplish their daily tasks. Low bandwidth results in long file download times and lost productivity. As a part of the

title="Application Ready Solution for Windows Server 2008 R2">Application Ready Solution for Windows Server 2008 R2

, F5's support for BranchCache increases server capacity by offloading intensive computations used to alias web content requests from Windows 7 clients at branch locations.

This solution also functions as a transition technology to bring the benefits of BranchCache to all Windows 7 client users where web servers have not yet been upgraded to Windows Server 2008 R2. For servers not yet running Windows 2008 R2, the F5 solution provides the infrastructure visibility and intelligence necessary for those servers to participate in a BranchCache solution where Windows 7 clients are deployed, significantly reducing bandwidth consumption.

Supporting Quotes

"Microsoft's DirectAccess and BranchCache technologies highlight the business value of Windows 7 client and Windows Server 2008 R2 working together to provide new, transformational features that increase user productivity," said Mike Schutz, Director, Windows Server Marketing at Microsoft. "Mobile workers will realize tremendous productivity increases through anytime access, and businesses will lower their cost of delivering this access in a secure, manageable way using DirectAccess and BranchCache. F5's Application Ready Solutions amplify this value for end-users and corporate IT departments by providing tested, validated solutions to streamline application deployments."

"Application delivery and optimization for remote users is becoming a more common concern for IT departments," said Calvin Rowland, VP of Application Partner Programs at F5. "In order to ensure the productivity and connection of these employees, companies need to deploy applications and technologies to enable remote access just as they enable onsite access. F5 has worked closely with Microsoft to increase our solution base for Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. F5 Application Ready Solutions provide customers with increased worker productivity, greater ROI for IT departments, increased confidence of solution interoperability, and enhanced scalability for faster, easier technology deployments."

Learn more about F5 and Microsoft solutions working together atwww.f5.com/solutions/applications/microsoft.

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 towww.f5.com.

F5, BIG-IP, Local Traffic Manager, DevCentral, 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.

Alane Moran
F5 Networks, Inc.
(206) 272-6850

a.moran@f5.com

News Source : F5 Solutions Optimize Microsoft Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 Deployments