Combination of VMware NSX™
network virtualization platform and F5®
BIG-IQ® orchestration solution automates delivery
of L2–7 services for data center agility
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Automated provisioning of application
services for rapid application deployment and streamlined
operations
- Insertion of F5 advanced application
services through the VMware NSX distributed service platform for
dynamic scaling out of application infrastructure
- Consistent policy and user experience
across virtual and physical appliances
F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV) and VMware, Inc. (NYSE:VMW) today
announced interoperability between F5’s BIG-IQ® management platform
and the VMware NSX™ network virtualization platform for rapid
orchestration of layer 2–7 network and application services in the
software-defined data center (SDDC). Today’s announcement focuses
on enabling customers to combine the VMware NSX platform’s network
service automation with F5’s application delivery service
management. This marks the latest in a series of collaborative
efforts between the companies to bring compelling IT benefits to
their mutual data center customers.
Typically, provisioning services for new applications—or
changing parameters no matter how slightly for deployed
applications—is a long, manual process. With a combined F5 and
VMware solution, customers will be able to leverage the full suite
of BIG-IP® services directly from within the NSX Manager as part of
the normal virtual machine deployment process, enabling them to
reduce provisioning time from days to minutes.
The F5 and VMware NSX technologies interoperate with management
plane-level REST-based APIs that are used by F5 BIG-IP to register
and deploy application services that can be consumed by F5 users in
their software-defined data center. The NSX traffic steering
capability enables traffic to be redirected to the F5 service. This
combination allows F5 iApps® to be leveraged by NSX, and to be
consumed as vendor templates that F5 customers can instantiate with
application-specific parameters.
With F5 and VMware products, customers will be able to automate
the deployment of policy-driven services for multi-tiered
applications in their software-defined data center. The solution
will be able to be deployed non-disruptively, enabling customers to
leverage BIG-IP and BIG-IQ features in NSX virtual environments.
Users will also be able to continue to use their custom iApps
templates through native F5 interfaces.
KEY BENEFITS
- Simplified Management –
Customers will be able to take full advantage of F5’s broad range
of application services without management complexity. NSX provides
operational agility for application-specific (rich layer 7
protocol) services for acceleration, availability, and security.
The integration will provide customers with greater control over
how services are holistically applied, along with unified services
across L2–3 networking fabric and L4–7 application delivery
fabric.
- Scalable Services and Automation
– A consistent consumption model and API-based integration will
enable customers to set and configure polices for acceleration,
security, availability, and virtualization services for data center
and cloud deployments. The joint solution will give IT teams the
ability to automate the way VMware and F5 systems perform and
respond to changing conditions, without disrupting production
infrastructure or impacting revenue-generating business
applications.
- Smooth Application Rollouts – By
combining the strengths of each vendor’s approach, organizations
will be positioned to maximize network and application performance
with Software-Defined Application Services™. Integrated
capabilities extend the utility of F5 iApps templates, providing
prescriptive guidance to optimize popular applications and
additional deployment scenarios.
SUPPORTING QUOTES
“Many organizations have VMware and F5 solutions in their
infrastructures, and our goal is to make it even easier for
customers to reap additional benefits by combining the companies’
technologies. The F5 Synthesis™ framework and Software-Defined
Application Services provide an ideal fit for VMware-based data
center initiatives. Looking forward, we see many opportunities to
build on existing partnership efforts to help customers add
capabilities without complexity and maximize the effectiveness of
data center and cloud deployments.”
Manny Rivelo, EVP, Strategic Solutions, F5
“Customers are adopting networking virtualization on the path to
the software-defined data center, and our world-class ecosystem of
partners such as F5 will help customers accelerate SDDC
implementation. Customers will be able to extend the use of F5’s
L4–7 services through a Software-Defined Application Services model
into the SDDC. The interoperability between VMware NSX™ network
virtualization and F5’s application delivery architecture—and the
unique ability to provision and consume iApps—allows our mutual
customers to create more agile data centers.”
Hatem Naguib, VP, Networking and Security, VMware
“Automation for agility and high-quality application performance
is a top driver for the data center. The integration between F5
BIG-IQ and VMware NSX answers these requirements by providing
orchestration and shared management of virtualized networks and
application services, delivering significant benefit to their
enterprise and service provider customers.”
Cliff Grossner, Ph.D., Directing Analyst, Data Center, Cloud,
and SDN, Infonetics Research
AVAILABILITY
VMware NSX 6.1 and BIG-IQ 4.4 will both be available during the
third quarter of calendar year 2014. For F5 solutions, please
contact a local sales office for availability in specific
countries. An F5 reference architecture for VMware NSX is available
today at https://f5.com/solutions/architectures/vmware-nsx. This
integration and other F5 and VMware solutions will be showcased at
this week’s VMworld event in San Francisco—please visit F5 at booth
#1621.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
- F5 and VMware Technology Alliance
- VMware NSX Product Page
- F5 BIG-IQ Product Page
- VMware Network Virtualization Blog
- F5 Synthesis: Open, Secure and
Production-Ready SDDC – F5 DevCentral Blog Post
About VMware
VMware is the leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure
solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud Era.
Customers rely on VMware to help them transform the way they build,
deliver and consume Information Technology resources in a manner
that is evolutionary and based on their specific needs. With 2013
revenues of $5.21 billion, VMware has more than 500,000 customers
and 75,000 partners. The company is headquartered in Silicon Valley
with offices throughout the world and can be found online at
www.vmware.com.
About F5
F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) provides solutions for an application world.
F5 helps organizations seamlessly scale cloud, data center, and
software defined networking (SDN) deployments to successfully
deliver applications to anyone, anywhere, at any time. F5 solutions
broaden the reach of IT through an open, extensible framework and a
rich partner ecosystem of leading technology and data center
orchestration vendors. This approach lets customers pursue the
infrastructure model that best fits their needs over time. The
world’s largest businesses, service providers, government entities,
and consumer brands rely on F5 to stay ahead of cloud, security,
and mobility trends. For more information, go to f5.com.
You can also follow @f5networks on Twitter or visit us on
Facebook for more information about F5, its partners, and
technologies.
F5, BIG-IP, BIG-IQ, F5 Synthesis, Software Defined Application
Services, iApps, and DevCentral are trademarks or service marks of
F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other
product and company names herein may be trademarks of their
respective owners.
VMware and VMware NSX are registered trademarks or trademarks of
VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. The use
of the word “partner” or “partnership” does not imply a legal
partnership relationship between VMware and any other company.
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.
F5 NetworksAlane Moran, 206-272-6850a.moran@f5.comorVMwareKen
Lotich, 916-740-4335klotich@vmware.com
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