F5 Networks announces Application Ready Network for Microsoft Windows
February 2008 by Emmanuelle Lamandé
F5 Networks Inc. announced that it has extended its Application Ready Network (ARN) for Microsoft to include Windows Server 2008.
Microsoft Windows Server 2008 is an advanced Windows Server-based
operating system, designed to power the next-generation of networks,
applications, and Web services. The F5(r) ARN for Windows Server 2008
will help enable enterprises achieve powerful deployment advantages,
featuring support for the updated versions of Microsoft Internet
Information Services (IIS) and Terminal Services, as well as Microsoft
technologies such as Windows PowerShell and SSTP (Secure Socket
Tunneling Protocol).
With ARNs, F5 delivers the industry’s most comprehensive
application-specific products, tools, templates, and deployment guides
to reduce the costs associated with application deployment, management,
and operation. F5 ARNs offer step-by-step procedures with thorough
deployment and application guides to help facilitate cooperation across
organisations’ application and networking groups, reducing the risk of
missed deployment deadlines, over-budget projects, and failed or poorly
adopted application deployments. Each ARN solution has been meticulously
tested in F5’s Technology Centre, with repeatable deployment
configurations documented to enable customers to reap the benefits of
F5’s application delivery expertise.
F5’s long-standing relationship with Microsoft has resulted in several
key achievements on the development side, yielding significant features
that differentiate F5:
New Terminal Services Engine - Ensures enterprise-class user persistence
on both IPv4 and IPv6 networks, shielding users from the consequences of unanticipated network drops.
Unique IIS acceleration technologies - Enables the F5 solution to
deliver more content faster to users. This is accomplished through the
BIG-IP(r) product’s intelligent browser level caching, compression, and
HTTP/TCP optimisations.
New flexible Windows PowerShell tools - Provides customers with a much
wider variety of useful options to maintain and configure their F5
devices. For example, customers can integrate their BIG-IP system
configurations with third-party applications for seamless management.