F5 Networks Introduces New Internet Traffic and Content Management Products As Part of its Internet Control Architecture.

Business/High-Tech Editors

SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 20, 2001

New Product Versions Bring Unmatched Levels of Integration,

Performance and Intelligence to the Network Infrastructure,

Providing End-to-End Control Over Traffic and Content Delivery

F5 Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FFIV), the leading provider of Internet Traffic and Content Management (iTCM) products, today announced new versions of its high-performance, award-winning iTCM products, including the 3-DNS(R) Controller, EDGE-FX(TM) Cache, GLOBAL-SITE(TM) Content Controller, and SEE-IT(TM) Network Manager.

When deployed in an integrated fashion, F5's traffic and content management products deliver seamless, automatic control over content deployment and server synchronization -- on a global scale. F5's iTCM products are a part of F5's Internet Control Architecture(TM), also announced today, which defines a complete and unified architectural solution for the distribution, delivery and control of content and applications.

"Frost and Sullivan is witness to numerous products, services, and alliances that promise to redefine the content delivery industry, said Jarad Carleton, Internet Infrastructure Research Analyst at Frost and Sullivan. "Many solutions, however, either lack the underlying intelligence or fall short in supporting the open standards and interfaces needed to render a true unified solution for central management. Tight integration and manageability of multiple products is essential to achieve the secure and robust architecture necessary to enable an application-aware network. While many companies are still working to achieve this goal, F5 can implement a solution today."

"Akamai provides comprehensive web content delivery services to help its customers deliver content faster and more reliably than ever before," said Thorsten Ganz, Director, Product Management, Akamai Technologies. "F5 3-DNS Controller's new CDN Peering capabilities will help any organization concerned about performance and reliability tap into and leverage Akamai's network of over 8,000 servers to extend their reach, worldwide."

F5 Networks is the only company offering high-performance iTCM products -- fully integrated by design. The new versions of F5 products announced today bring superior levels of intelligence, integration and control to support enterprise-class networks. Product highlights include:

3-DNS Controller -- An award-winning global Internet traffic management product that is the first to offer CDN Peering capabilities. 3-DNS now allows sites to cost-effectively and easily send a portion of their traffic to 3rd party CDN networks based on individual business needs. For example, use 3-DNS to provide overflow insurance by directing excess traffic to any number of CDN networks. Also new to 3-DNS is the ability to route Internet requests, based on country of origin, to ensure that users around the world can be sent to data centers providing localized content. Additionally, when used with the GLOBAL-SITE Content Controller, global traffic can be redirected while the site's content is being updated for uninterrupted service.

EDGE-FX Cache -- A high performance Internet cache that now has Gigabit Ethernet support to deliver higher throughput. When integrated with BIG-IP, sites can deploy highly scalable, high performance cache farms to deliver fresh content, fast. Now, when combined with GLOBAL-SITE, content publishers have total control over what version of content is presented, optimal cache performance, and reduced network traffic.

GLOBAL-SITE Content Controller -- A global data management product that geographically prepositions and replicates content and applications to appropriate cache and web servers. GLOBAL-SITE automates distribution, synchronization and version control of content and applications. With this new version, web site updates are streamlined because of tighter integration with content publishing software.

SEE-IT Network Manager -- Through tight integration with F5's suite of products, the SEE-IT Network Manager centralizes data gathered by all devices to produce meaningful, actionable reports on a site's Internet traffic and content delivery. SEE-IT now consolidates log collection for multiple EDGE-FX Caches, presenting a unified view to administrators. It also can report total performance stats for pairs of BIG-IP Controllers as well as stats for individual controllers.

"F5's products are integrated by design, easy to install, and inherently intelligent because of our flexible advanced software approach," said Jeff Pancottine, Senior Vice-President of Marketing and Business Development at F5 Networks. "This has always been our approach from the very beginning and the main reason why F5 has a competitive advantage, from both a technology and time-to-market perspective."

Pricing and Availability of New Versions

The 3-DNS Controller -- Available now and is priced at $34,990.

EDGE-FX Cache -- Available in March and is priced at $9,990.

The GLOBAL-SITE Content Controller -- Available in March and is priced at $29,990.

SEE-IT Network Manager -- Available today and is priced at $9,990 (for monitoring of any five devices); $14,990 (for monitoring of any 10 devices); and $49,990 (for monitoring an unlimited number of devices)

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.

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