News, Press, & Events

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

F5 Networks Introduces Application Ready Access with New Release of FirePass SSL VPN Controller

Secure remote access appliance now features broad support for mobile devices and enhanced web portal and Web 2.0 application capabilities

SEATTLE, September 18, 2007 - F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced that its award-winning FirePass® SSL VPN Controller now delivers enhanced, application ready remote access, with support for an extensive range of mobile devices and operating systems (OS), as well as improved web application and portal access capabilities.

"Broad mobile device support helps companies increase the productivity of mobile workforces," said Michael Suby, Research Program Director at Stratecast (a Division of Frost & Sullivan). "Increased compatibility with next generation, feature-rich applications and web portals enables SSL VPN devices like FirePass to lower deployment costs and provide secure access to web applications and portals from both managed and unmanaged client devices."

Highlights of the New FirePass Release

Mobile Device Support - This new, robust version of FirePass supports secure remote access from a wide range of devices including:

  • Apple® iPhone - Web application and email access using a standard iPhone web browser
  • Windows Mobile® 5.0 and Windows Mobile 6.0 PocketPC and SmartPhones - Full SSL VPN tunnel network access support to any IP-based application, as well as web application and email access

Client OS Compatibility - FirePass now operates seamlessly with:

  • Intel-powered Mac computers - Native network access support
  • Windows XP and Windows Vista® 64-bit support
  • Protected Workspace feature support for Windows Vista 32-bit client OS

Application Ready Access - FirePass' enhanced new reverse proxy engine offers improved interoperability with web portals and applications from industry leaders such as Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP. Applications and portals supported include:

  • iNotes 7.0
  • Microsoft® Office Outlook® Web Access 2007
  • Microsoft Office SharePoint® Server 2007
  • Oracle® Portal 3.1
  • PeopleSoft HR Portal 8.1
  • SAP® ERP 2005

Web 2.0 Application Capabilities - FirePass interoperates with increasingly interactive web application technologies and content including:

  • AJAX
  • Flash
  • JavaScript

Enhanced Terminal Services Support - FirePass retains the familiar user experience with Citrix® and Windows Terminal Services, minimizing support and troubleshooting costs. Enhanced terminal services support includes:

  • Citrix Session Reliability support in Terminal Services, Static AppTunnels, and Portal access modes
  • Support for customizing screen resolution and terminal service client window size for ICA (Citrix), RDP (Windows Terminal Services), and VNC clients

"FirePass continues to allow enterprises to simplify application delivery as a remote access solution that provides policy-based management for a diverse array of user groups," said Ameet Dhillon, Director of Product Management at F5. "These new application-intelligent features and capabilities give organizations true access flexibility and specificity to realize powerful performance gains and swift ROI."

Availability

The new version of the FirePass Controller will be available at the end of September 2007. The product ships with built-in support for all access modes (Network access, Application access, and Portal access) and endpoint security. The new version will be available as a software download for existing FirePass installations, so F5 customers with current maintenance agreements and hardware platforms can take advantage of all the capabilities included in the new release. For more information on FirePass, please see below or visit www.f5.com/products/firepass/.

About F5's FirePass

FirePass is an SSL VPN appliance that enables enterprises to provide secure, policy-based remote access to network resources using any web-enabled device and over a range of access networks, regardless of location. With FirePass, organizations benefit from superior performance and scalability, easy management, and the most advanced application security. It also offers the industry's only open Application Programming Interface (API) and Software Developer's Kit (SDK) to reduce the total cost of ownership through increased automation.

About F5 Networks

F5 Networks is the global leader in Application Delivery Networking. F5 provides solutions that make applications secure, fast and available for everyone, helping organizations get the most out of their investment. By adding intelligence and manageability into the network to offload applications, F5 optimizes applications and allows them to work faster and consume fewer resources. F5's extensible architecture intelligently integrates application optimization, protects the application and the network, and delivers application reliability-all on one universal platform. Over 10,000 organizations and service providers worldwide trust F5 to keep their applications running. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices worldwide. For more information, go to www.f5.com.

# # #

Press Contacts
Alane Moran
F5 Networks
(206) 272-6850
a.moran@f5.com		 Holly Hagerman
Connect Public Relations
(801) 373-7888
hollyh@connectpr.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.

All other names are registered or unregistered trademarks of the individual firms.