F5 Unveils SDN Strategy

F5 Networks Inc. today unveiled its vision for the new software-defined networking data center. Synthesis is the name F5 has given to this new architecture, which is based on software defined application services, the company’s trademarked version of SDN.

Synthesis is a high-performance and multi-tenant approach to networking, F5 indicates, that will make it easier and more cost efficient for carriers and enterprises to provision layer 4-7 services in cloud, data center and hybrid environments.

Zeus Kerravala, principal analyst at ZK Research, said: “The company’s approach to SDAS fits in step with the broader industry’s focus on SDN topics. With an emphasis on fabric-based networking, programmable application services, simplified purchasing options, and dedicated reference architectures, F5 is evolving its sales and marketing practices to better align with organizations’ need to rapidly and efficiently deploy, provision, and prioritize IT services.”?

The architecture can scale to support up to 1.28 million instances (both administrative domains and virtual instances), offers 20.5 TB of throughput, and can enable as many as 9.2 billion connections. Its centralized management system does automated discovery, topology, and provisioning, which expedites service delivery and makes these processes more cost-effective, efficient and repeatable. According to F5.

“F5 is highly aware of the shifts transforming the application delivery controller market, based on ongoing dialogue with customers, partners, and industry influencers,” said Manny Rivelo, executive vice president of strategic solutions at F5. “With Synthesis, we are better aligning around the priorities and deployment preferences of enterprises and service providers to best address the direction IT is headed – billions of users, trillions of Internet-connected devices, and millions of essential applications. To support this growth, we view the ability to massively scale services, elastically provision resources, and interoperate with a variety of open and proprietary platforms as non-negotiable.”?

F5 also has introduced reference architectures addressing such things as how the solution can help organizations defend against DDoS attacks.

The company also emphasized that the new F5 approach to the data center allows for easy integration with solutions from partners including Arista Networks, Cisco, Dell, HP, VMware, and WhiteHat Security.