Cable & Wireless North America Enters Agreement With F5 to Offer the Leading Internet Traffic and Content Management Products to Its Expansive Customer Base.

Business/High-Tech Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 20, 2000

Cable & Wireless Strengthens Its Web Hosting Services

Through an Agreement to Resell F5 Networks' Entire Suite

of Internet Traffic and Content Management (iTCM) Products

F5 Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FFIV), the leading provider of Internet traffic and content management (iTCM) products, and Cable & Wireless (NYSE:CWP), the global telecommunications group, announced today that they have established an alliance whereby Cable & Wireless will begin reselling F5 Networks' entire suite of Internet traffic and content management products.

The alliance brings value to Cable & Wireless' large customer base and the market by helping to ensure that mission-critical web sites are available 24/7 and that users promptly receive the information they request from a Cable & Wireless hosted site.

"Cable & Wireless, which has one of the largest and fastest Internet networks worldwide, is delivering an advanced pathway for Internet-based communications to support our customers' growing range of Internet applications," said Eric Dorsch, director of Professional Services at Cable & Wireless. "Our alliance with F5 helps us provide enterprises with the necessary building blocks for creating a reliable and predictable network that allows customers to grow their market share and sustain their long-term viability."

The alliance between the two companies directly addresses Internet content providers' increasing demand for a network infrastructure that can meet the extremely dynamic business environment afforded by the Internet today, with the flexibility and scalability needed to successfully carry their business into the future.

"We're excited about our relationship with Cable & Wireless, which has a major presence supporting e-Businesses around the world," said Tom Pettigrew, Vice-President of Corporate Development at F5 Networks. "Together, Cable & Wireless' services and F5's products afford customers the solid e-infrastructure that they need to maximize their near-term profits and meet their long-term business goals. This alliance also represents an expansion of F5's distribution channel through Cable & Wireless' successful global market penetration."

About Cable & Wireless

With customers in 70 countries, Cable & Wireless is a major global telecommunications business with revenue of around $13 billion in the year ended March 1999 and over 50,000 employees. Its businesses around the world offer a range of services spanning broadband data and Internet services, fixed and mobile voice, as well as interactive entertainment and information. Cable & Wireless' priority for expansion is the fast growing market of data and IP (Internet Protocol) services for business customers. Since November 1998, it has announced major investments in advanced networks in the US and Europe, the restructuring of Cable & Wireless Communications in the UK and has acquired full control of Cable & Wireless IDC in Japan to support this strategy. Cable & Wireless now holds a unique position in terms of global coverage and services to business customers.

About F5 Networks

F5 Networks is a leader in Internet Traffic and Content Management products. The Company's integrated suite of high-performance products automatically and intelligently manage Internet traffic and content to improve the availability and performance of mission-critical Internet servers and applications. F5 Networks helps companies avoid the risk of being burdened with ill-performing networks that do not meet end user expectations, while enabling network administrators to better control and predict the performance of their infrastructure. F5 Networks' products are designed to provide a new level of fault tolerance by shielding users from system failure; optimizing response times to user requests and data flow; and cost-effectively managing an organization's Internet infrastructure.

The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and has offices in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Columbus, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington, D.C., Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, The Netherlands, Singapore, Sweden and the United Kingdom. F5 Networks is located on the web at www.f5.com.

F5 Networks (Nasdaq:FFIV) Internet Traffic Management products support a wide range of operating systems and hardware platforms including those from: Sun Microsystems (Nasdaq:SUNW), Hewlett Packard (NYSE:HWP), Compaq (NYSE:CPQ), Microsoft (Nasdaq:MSFT), Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL), IBM (NYSE:IBM) and Intel (Nasdaq:INTC). F5 products work with leading IP-based applications, including legacy host, mainframe, Java, CORBA-based, and client/server applications from vendors such as SAP (NYSE:SAP), BAAN (Nasdaq:BAANF), Novell (Nasdaq:NOVL), Oracle (Nasdaq:ORCL), and PeopleSoft (Nasdaq:PSFT).

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.