F5, a global company that specializes in multi-cloud networking, has introduced new features that enable the extension of application and cybersecurity services across one or more public clouds, mixed installations, native Kubernetes environments, and edge locations.
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These new "Distributed Cloud Services" from F5 simplify the extension of multi-cloud environments through a single administration interface, providing access and security at both the network and application levels.
According to F5's State of Application Strategy (SOAS) Report for 2023, 85 percent of companies utilize dispersed application installations, which encompass both traditional and modern designs on various server platforms. These dispersed installations increase management costs and complexity, hinder visibility, and broaden the potential attack surface. To address these challenges, F5 has developed a cloud-agnostic platform-based strategy that caters to the requirements of both traditional and modern applications.
With the rise of microservices-based applications that rely on distributed Kubernetes cluster services and APIs, traditional network design and infrastructure models are ill-equipped to meet the needs of these modern applications and the digital experiences they deliver.
The 2023 SOAS Report highlights the top three challenges faced in multi-cloud environments: handling the complexity of related tools and APIs, implementing uniform security across applications, and improving application speed. F5 tackles these challenges through its platform-based strategy, providing a unified service architecture that handles layer 3 transport and layer 7 app-to-app service networking between servers and dispersed apps, thereby reducing complexity and improving speed.
Additionally, F5 offers end-to-end security for connected applications and networking between servers and locations, with consistent policy controls to quickly respond to evolving risks. The company also provides cloud-independent automation for end-to-end private communication, as well as application detection, networking, and security. Lastly, F5 offers granular control over app interactions for modern applications, including integrated app security.
Michael Rau, Senior Vice President and General Manager of F5 Distributed Cloud Platform and Security Services, explains that the rise of microservices and API-heavy dispersed apps has added complexity and reduced accessibility, in line with the expansion of cloud and hybrid designs. F5's distributed cloud services significantly enhance the ability to support clients' hybrid and multi-cloud use cases by providing unmatched speed and security for cross-border infrastructure and app environments.
F5 continues to expand its range of managed and SaaS services, most recently including Distributed Cloud App Infrastructure Protection. In addition, F5 has introduced new SaaS products such as Distributed Cloud App Connect and Distributed Cloud Network Connect, further extending the scope of its distributed cloud services.
F5's Distributed Cloud Services provides several key features and benefits that help simplify multi-cloud environments:
1. Application Portability: With F5's solution, applications can be deployed and migrated seamlessly across different cloud providers. This portability eliminates vendor lock-in and allows organizations to choose the most appropriate cloud platform for each application.
2. Unified Management: The solution provides a centralized management interface that offers a unified view of all applications deployed across multiple clouds. Administrators can easily configure and manage application services, policies, and security settings in a consistent manner, reducing complexity and streamlining operations.
3. Consistent Security Policies: F5's Distributed Cloud Services enables consistent security policies and configurations to be applied across all clouds. This ensures that applications are protected consistently, regardless of their location, and helps organizations maintain compliance with regulatory requirements.
4. Enhanced Performance and Scaling: The solution includes intelligent load balancing capabilities that distribute traffic efficiently across multiple cloud instances, improving application performance and scalability. It also offers autoscaling capabilities to automatically adjust resource allocation based on demand.
5. Centralized Monitoring and Analytics: F5's Distributed Cloud Services provides centralized monitoring and analytics, giving organizations real-time visibility into application performance, security events, and resource utilization across multiple clouds. This data helps identify issues quickly and optimize application delivery.
6. Cost Optimization: By leveraging a multi-cloud environment, organizations can take advantage of cost savings opportunities. F5's solution helps identify the most cost-effective cloud resources and provides visibility into cloud spend, allowing organizations to optimize their cloud usage and reduce costs.
more details about F5's Distributed Cloud Services:
1. Application Delivery and Security: F5's solution offers comprehensive application delivery services, including intelligent load balancing, SSL/TLS offloading, and caching. It also provides robust security features such as web application firewall (WAF) and DDoS protection. These capabilities ensure high availability, scalability, and protection for applications deployed across multiple clouds.
2. Single Pane of Glass: F5's centralized management interface, known as the F5 BIG-IQ platform, provides a single pane of glass for managing and monitoring applications across multiple cloud platforms. It offers a consistent user experience and allows administrators to seamlessly configure and deploy application services across clouds.
3. Hybrid and Multi-Cloud Optimization: F5's Distributed Cloud Services is designed to optimize hybrid and multi-cloud environments. It enables organizations to leverage both public and private cloud resources while maintaining consistent application performance and security. The solution also supports cloud bursting, allowing organizations to scale their applications dynamically across multiple cloud providers.
4. Intelligent Traffic Steering: F5's solution includes advanced traffic steering capabilities, allowing organizations to route traffic dynamically based on application health, latency, and other metrics. This ensures optimal performance and reliability for applications, even in complex multi-cloud environments.
5. DevOps Integration: F5's Distributed Cloud Services integrates with DevOps tools and workflows, enabling organizations to automate application deployment and management tasks in multi-cloud environments. This integration facilitates continuous delivery and accelerates time-to-market for new applications and updates.
6. Global Load Balancing: F5's solution includes global server load balancing (GSLB) capabilities, enabling organizations to distribute application traffic across geographically dispersed data centers and clouds. This helps improve application availability and performance for users across different regions.
Overall, F5's Distributed Cloud Services simplifies the management, optimization, and security of applications in multi-cloud environments. It offers a comprehensive set of features and integrates with existing tools and workflows, enabling organizations to harness the benefits of multi-cloud without the complexities typically associated with it.
The company's claims about simplifying multi-cloud networking and improving security are nothing more than marketing hype. In reality, F5's solution is just another layer of complexity that will only serve to further confuse and overwhelm developers.
The company's reliance on a cloud-agnostic platform is a flawed approach, as it will only lead to fragmentation and incompatibility across different environments. F5's solution is a step backward, not forward, and it will only perpetuate the problems that the industry is trying to solve.