F5 Networks' Internet Control Architecture Supports New Microsoft Application Center 2000.

Business Editors, High-Tech Writers

Internet World Spring 2001

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 14, 2001

F5's Internet Control Architecture Helps Enable Microsoft

Application Center to Provide Seamless Content Distribution

and Application Updates With Uninterrupted Service

F5 Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FFIV), the leading provider of Internet Traffic and Content Management (iTCM) products, today announced that Microsoft is using F5 Networks' Internet Control Architecture to enable the web servers and applications within Microsoft Application Center 2000 to seamlessly integrate and communicate with each other.

With Application Center 2000, web applications built on Microsoft Windows 2000 can achieve mission-critical availability (99.999% uptime) through software scaling, while reducing operational complexity and costs. With F5's Internet Control Architecture, Application Center is able to use F5's BIG-IP(R) Controller to distribute new applications and content updates, without interrupting service, by adding and removing servers while the distribution and update process is occurring.

"Microsoft Application Center 2000 is all about simplifying application management and maximizing availability for any Web application built on Microsoft Windows 2000," said Bob Pulliam, Technical Product Manager for Microsoft Application Center 2000. "The goals of Application Center 2000 align naturally with F5's Internet Control Architecture and its ability to create application-aware networks. Customers using F5's architecture along with Application Center 2000 are able to easily deploy and manage high availability applications from a single console, reducing errors and lowering costs."

Application Center 2000 uses Network Load Balancing (NLB) and Component Load Balancing (CLB) technologies to create clusters of Microsoft Windows 2000 Server-based computers. Clustering increases the amount of traffic that the Web site can handle and guarantees availability when a server becomes disabled. F5's Internet Control Architecture enables integration of the BIG-IP Controller with Application Center 2000 clusters for load balancing web traffic across all available Application Center 2000 web servers. It also permits instruction on when to add or remove nodes depending on the particular function Application Center 2000 is performing at any given time. This helps minimize administration, and significantly simplifies uptime and availability.

"Application Center 2000 streamlines application deployment, simplifying the task of migrating applications throughout the development cycle -- from development to testing to production," said Dan Matte, Senior Director of Product Management at F5 Networks. "The Application Center is a prime example of how F5's Internet Control Architecture enables an application-aware network and helps enterprises efficiently manage application deployment and availability for large-scale web applications. With Application Center, the network informs applications about availability, for instance, and the application instructs the network on where to direct traffic -- without manual intervention and the associated administration costs."

About Microsoft Application Center 2000

Microsoft Application Center 2000 is a deployment and management tool for high-availability Web applications built on the Microsoft Windows 2000 operating system. Application Center 2000 makes managing groups of servers as simple as managing a single computer, empowering developers and Web site administrators to deploy applications quickly and easily while minimizing in-depth application knowledge requirements. By automating deployment of applications from one server to another, Application Center speeds up transfer times, eliminates manual errors, and improves the quality of releases.

About F5 Networks

F5 Networks is the leader in Internet Traffic and Content Management (iTCM), and delivers application aware networks through its open Internet Control Architecture. F5 features the industry's leading set of integrated products and services that manage, control and optimize Internet traffic and content. Our solutions automatically and intelligently deliver the best possible Internet performance, availability and content distribution for service providers, enterprises and e-businesses. Our products remove bandwidth congestion and optimize the availability and speed of mission-critical Internet servers and applications, including web publishing, content delivery, e-commerce, caching, firewalls and more. Our solutions are widely deployed in large enterprises, the top service providers, financial institutions, government agencies, healthcare, and portals throughout the world. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and has offices throughout North America, Europe and Asia Pacific. F5 Networks is located on the web at www.f5.com.

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.