F5 Positioned in the Leaders Quadrant in Web-enabled Application Delivery Magic Quadrant

Business Wire, Feb 7, 2005

SEATTLE -- F5 Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FFIV), the global leader in Application Traffic Management, today announced that it has been positioned in the Leaders Quadrant of the most recent Gartner Web-enabled Application Delivery Magic Quadrant Report, 2H04 (1). Vendors included in the Magic Quadrant provide at least a subset of the features to improve the reliability, performance and delivery of applications (including security) across an arbitrary network. The report analyzes vendors on their completeness of vision and ability to execute. According to Gartner, leaders are vendors who are performing well today, have a clear vision of market direction and are actively building competencies to sustain their leadership position in the market.

"F5 is proud to be positioned in the Leader Quadrant in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for web-enabled application delivery," said Dan Matte, Sr. Vice-President of Marketing at F5 Networks. "F5 continues to be innovative in the market and has been successful because of our enduring commitment to being customer driven, while setting industry standards on technology and performance. For example, with the release of BIG-IP v9.0, F5 has taken a significant step forward with its unique iControl API and iRules capabilities that help developers and network professionals gain unprecedented control over application traffic for faster, more highly optimized applications across a wider range of enterprise application environments."

According to the report, the web-enabled application delivery market is expanding rapidly as more companies realize the significance of these solutions. A strong placement in this Magic Quadrant demands that solutions addressed the key requirements of enterprise application delivery in 2004. Application owners and developers and their networking counterparts are advised to look at vendors with broad feature capabilities targeted at improving application performance while reducing the demands on infrastructure components.

The Magic Quadrant is copyrighted January 18, 2005 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

To view the full report, go to http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/f5/125235.html.> (1) Magic Quadrant for Web-Enabled Application Delivery, 2H04, January 18, 2005, by Mark Fabbi.

About F5 Networks

F5 enables organizations to successfully deliver business-critical applications and gives them the greatest level of agility to stay ahead of growing business demands. As the pioneer and global leader in Application Traffic Management, F5 continues to lead the industry by driving more intelligence into the network to deliver advanced application agility. F5 products ensure the secure and optimized delivery of applications to any user -- anywhere. Through its flexible and cohesive architecture, F5 delivers unmatched value by dramatically improving the way organizations serve their employees, customers and constituents, while lowering operational costs. Over 6,000 organizations and service providers worldwide trust F5 to keep their businesses running. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices worldwide. For more information go to www.f5.com.

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