F5 Intros App Security Manager, Joins PCI Council

SEATTLE -- F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced a new version of its BIG-IPR Application Security ManagerT (ASM) solution. BIG-IP ASM delivers a new level of integration by further leveraging the plug-in architecture of TMOST, the modular architecture platform for F5's application delivery solutions. With this integration-along with manageability and feature improvements-F5 has delivered the industry's foremost comprehensive application delivery security solution for enterprises and other organizations.

The new BIG-IP ASM delivers unprecedented security capabilities, enabling both network and security architects to manage the multiple layers of their application security environments comprehensively and transparently. In addition, BIG-IP ASM's robust capabilities and ease-of-use make it an ideal security solution for architects seeking to safely introduce new technologies into their application delivery infrastructures, including solutions that ensure regulatory requirements for financial, e-commerce, health care, and retail industries.

"While most organizations are incorporating security into the software development lifecycle for new applications, there are still many legacy applications that organizations must protect for regulatory and compliance reasons," said Diana Kelley, Vice President and Senior Analyst for Burton Group. "Application firewalls can help organizations provide compensating control protections for legacy and commercial applications."

As part of F5's integrated application delivery portfolio, BIG-IP ASM inherits unmatched performance enhancements by taking advantage of native TMOS functionalities including compression, caching, rate shaping, SSL offload, TCP content manipulation, and TCP Express. The result is the industry's fastest and best-performing application firewall-a streamlined, integrated security solution that can easily be deployed into an end-to-end Application Delivery Network.

"With BIG-IP ASM, we were able to achieve PCI compliance and up our levels of application security simultaneously, and without sacrificing performance," said Mark Nagiel, VP of IT and Information Security at InCharge Institute. "BIG-IP ASM is a key component of our risk management model. Because of its advanced feature set, transparent administration, and enforcement flexibility, we chose the device as our long-term, scalable solution."

In a separate release:

SEATTLE, NOVEMBER 6, 2007 - F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced that it has joined the Payment Card Industry (PCI) Security Standards Council as a Participating Organization. As a company, F5 has a rich level of expertise across application and network security. The company's solutions, including BIG-IPR Local Traffic ManagerT, FirePassR, and BIG-IP Application Security ManagerT products, help customers achieve compliance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (DSS).

"The PCI Security Standards Council is committed to helping everyone involved in the payment chain protect consumer payment data," said Bob Russo, General Manager of the PCI Security Standards Council. "We are pleased that F5 is committed to promoting and supporting this critical industry standard. We look forward to having them lend their expertise and knowledge to the feedback process in order to evolve the next generation of security standards."

The PCI Security Standards Council is an independent body formed to develop, enhance, disseminate, and assist with implementation of security standards for payment account security. The organization maintains and evolves the PCI DSS, while working to promote awareness and foster broad industry adoption of the standard.

Any type of business that processes, stores, and transmits cardholder and transaction data must comply with the DSS. If a business fails to comply with the DSS, any breach of cardholder or transaction data may result in substantial fines. In addition, the business' ability to accept credit card payments may be revoked.

"F5 has always viewed security as one of three crucial pillars for successful application delivery, so we're clearly committed to educating customers and the general market on the importance of PCI standards," said Erik Giesa, VP of Product Management and Product Marketing at F5. "F5's network-intelligent approach enables secure networking across all systems, network, and application protocols. We're excited to share our extensive expertise across application and network security to help promote the adoption of this important standard."

F5 Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: FFIV)