F5 Networks Reveals Windows Server 2008 Ready ARNs
F5 Networks, a provider of Application Delivery Networking, recently announced that it has extended its Application Ready Network (ARN) for Microsoft to include Windows Server 2008. Building on the previously announced solutions for Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007, and Office Communications Server 2007, F5 is the only Application Delivery Networking vendor to offer validated, application-specific solutions to optimize end-to-end performance, availability, and scalability for key Microsoft applications, claimed the company.According to F5 Networks, the F5 ARN for Windows Server 2008 will help enterprises achieve powerful deployment advantages including 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 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 organizations application and networking groups, reducing the risk of missed deployment deadlines, over-budget projects, and failed or poorly adopted application deployments. F5 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 product intelligent browser level caching, compression, and HTTP/TCP optimizations; 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.
