F5 Networks Maps Out Virtualization Strategy

F5 Networks at Interop next week aims to put application delivery controller (ADC) technology at the center of the virtualization management universe.

At the core of the F5 Networks initiative is the release of version 10.2 of the company’s software for managing its BIG-IP series of ADC devices. Given the fact that ADC devlces, formerly known as load balancers, have historically managed access to applications in the data center, the BIG-IP platform is a natural location from which to manage virtual machines, said F5 Networks manager for technical marketing Ken Salchow

One of the biggest issues facing network managers these day is that each virtual server comes with its own virtual switch to exponentially increase the number of virtual and physical switches on the network. F5 Networks' goal is to provide a Dynamic Control Plane Architecture through which it becomes simpler for network managers to manage the entire spectrum of virtual and physical devices on the network.

New virtualization management capabilities that F5 Networks intends to roll out include the ability to deploy an ADC as a virtual instance on top of a virtual server; plug-in modules that integrate the F5 Networks management system with management systems from Microsoft, VMware and Hewlett-Packard; the ability to run VMware’s VMotion software for dynamically distributing virtual machine software across a wide area network; the inclusion of security and application acceleration services in a dedicated BIG-IP Edge Gateway appliance; and the ability to add service level agreements.

The ability to accelerate the performance of virtual machines on a gateway gives customers the opportunity to standardize their network infrastructure on one vendor versus having to buy separate appliances for WAM optimization and security, noted Salchow.

Salchow added that network managers can leverage integration with virtual machine management tools from other vendors to not only provision virtual machines, but remotely decommission dormant virtual machines.

The instance of the company’s software on a virtual server, meanwhile, represents the commercialization of a capability that F5 Networks previewed earlier this year for workstations. That ability is intended to put ADC technology that can be tightly coupled with a physical ADC appliance directly on the virtual server.

According to Salchow, F5 Networks is building a fabric of networking technologies that not only improves application performance across the network, but makes managing the various virtual and physical components of that network simpler as part of an overall initiative that F5 Networks refers to as “On-Demand IT.”