F5 Big-IP 3900 platform enables mid-sized enterprises to consolidate IT infrastructure

Issued by Watt Communications & G Watt Design for EOH

Johannesburg, 27 Aug 2009

F5 Networks, represented in South Africa by EnterWeb (an EOH company), has introduced the F5 BIG-IP 3900 hardware platform.

The BIG-IP 3900 extends F5's award-winning solution portfolio, delivering increased performance to unify application delivery services on a single device at a lower price point, providing greater ROI for mid-sized organisations.

Andries Louw, MD of EnterWeb, explains that the 3900 is a sensible entry point for those seeking to unify application traffic management, security, and optimisation services, but do not have high throughput demands that would require a more substantial hardware investment.

“The BIG-IP 3900's quad-core processor architecture leverages F5's Clustered Multiprocessing technology, giving mid-sized customers the performance needed to support a unified, resource-efficient application delivery solution,” he says. “The BIG-IP 3900 is the first 1U (one rack unit) Application Delivery Controller platform from F5 that supports multiple product modules, allowing mid-sized organisations to cost-effectively build a comprehensive application delivery network.”

The BIG-IP 3900 unifies traffic management, Web application firewall security, and application acceleration to optimise the end-user experience, simplify device management, and provide improved flexibility and deployment options for customers. The new platform supports BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager, Global Traffic Manager, Application Security Manager, WebAccelerator, and Link Controller.

As multiple software modules can be added to the device, the 3900 platform enables organisations to effectively configure their application delivery infrastructure to meet the changing needs of their business. The platform's ability to bring together disparate application services also makes it an ideal solution for organisations looking to consolidate their application delivery infrastructure and reduce power, space, and cooling costs.

The 3900 comes standard with Fast Cache, IPv6 Gateway, Rate Shaping, SSL Offload, and Compression functionality. This suite of features allows organisations to improve their application performance and offload servers while increasing availability and scalability.

EnterWeb

EnterWeb, a member of the EOH Group of companies, is the sub-Saharan African distributor of the F5 product range. As such, we supply, install, maintain and service the range, predominantly using our network of partners and resellers. EnterWeb first made its mark on the local market by designing and deploying some of the most encompassing enterprise portal solutions in South Africa and abroad for blue chip clients. We were also very active in deploying and enhancing core components of big ERP solutions, ie, SAP, Oracle, Peoplesoft etc. By being exposed to the network and security issues faced by all those who deployed these solutions, they became acutely aware of the delivery issues faced by enterprises in deploying business critical systems over networks. By representing F5 in the country, we can now offer an integrated, holistic and easy to manage solution that addresses all of the major issues faced by enterprises embarking upon the deployment of core solutions over networks. EnterWeb markets sells and supports the F5 solutions, also using our network of resellers and partners. Contact us for more information.

EOH

EOH is a business and technology solutions provider creating lifelong partnerships by developing business and IT strategies, supplying and implementing solutions and managing enterprise-wide business systems and processes for medium to large clients.

EOH operates in the following three clusters of business units as a fully integrated business:

Technology - Through a number of subsidiary companies, EOH is able to sell, implement and support a range of world-class business applications, including ERP, CRM, business intelligence, advanced planning and scheduling, e-commerce and manufacturing execution systems (MES).

Consulting - Concentrated under the EOH Consulting brand are business units offering services ranging from strategic and business process consulting, project services, change management, supply chain optimisation and education.

Outsourcing - EOH offers comprehensive maintenance and support of client's IT infrastructure and applications through the rendering of full IT outsourcing, application hosting and managed services. In addition, EOH offers full business process outsourcing (BPO) services.

EOH has a presence in all major centres in South Africa and operates in the rest of Africa.

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