F5 Unveils ADC 3.0: Redefining Application Delivery for the AI Era

F5 Redefines ADC for the AI Era

Next generation Application Delivery Controllers address hybrid, multicloud, and AI-driven IT complexity crisis F5 is leading ADC transformation with convergence of high-performance application delivery with sophisticated application security capabilities into a single platform New reference architectures and partner alliances help customers deliver a secure future for AI-powered digital world F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) today outlined its vision on how Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) must transform to meet the extraordinary demands of modern and AI-powered applications. With a platform-based approach that delivers flexibility in form factor, management capabilities, and advanced control over every aspect of application security and delivery, F5 is leading the way and developing this next generation of ADCs. "The rise of AI and modern applications demands a fundamental rethinking of application security and delivery. Traditional approaches fall short in managing today's complex, distributed systems. Organizations need solutions that provide consistency, flexibility, and complete visibility across their IT landscape. F5 has transformed our technology portfolio to meet these challenges head-on, enabling our customers to confidently secure and deliver advanced digital experiences," said Kunal Anand, Chief Innovation Officer, F5. According to F5's State of Application Strategy Report, the modern application era driven by AI is upon us. 75% of enterprises state they are already deploying AI apps in some form. Despite the rush to implement these new modern digital experiences, enterprises are ill equipped to secure and deliver AI applications that handle massive amounts of data, require complex traffic patterns, and introduce sophisticated security threats. A new approach is needed to the underlying tech stack that is still powered by traditional ADCs. The next generation of ADCs must support the reality of today's hybrid and multicloud infrastructures, converging what are currently point solutions to address critical needs such as high-performance load balancing, full web app and API security, multicloud networking, and AI gateway capabilities. F5 is leading the industry in this transformation, introducing a new approach to secure and deliver modern apps with a series of architectures designed for today's most dynamic AI use cases. These new resources will help enterprises accelerate AI planning and deployment while tackling the increasing complexity in delivering modern applications. ADC 3.0: Redefining ADC for the AI Era Infrastructure, applications, and security have evolved significantly over the past 25 years -- from on-premises data centers and monolithic applications secured by basic rule-based WAF and DoS protection, to public cloud deployed microservices and container-based applications with more comprehensive security that includes API protection and bot defense. As we enter the AI era, hybrid, multicloud environments are now the norm and applications are highly distributed, requiring AI-powered security capabilities that protect against increasingly complex threats. In an era of unprecedented technological complexity and security challenges, F5's reimagined vision of what an ADC can and should be is critical for organizations looking to adapt. AI and other modern apps require a new, more advanced approach to ADCs that converges high-performance load balancing with more powerful web application and API cybersecurity capabilities to deliver this new breed of digital experiences. F5 created the ADC category and has been the leader in securing and delivering applications for the world's largest organizations for nearly 30 years. As F5 enables customers to tackle the complexity challenges inherent in deploying AI applications, the company is once again leading the industry with a new vision for ADC technology. "Apps have become more dynamic and more distributed. This trend is expected to continue as AI becomes more ubiquitous throughout the enterprise. As the nature of applications has changed, the ADC naturally needs to evolve as well. The need for robust load balancing and application delivery techniques combined with robust security features that protect data at the application and API level is critical as we enter the era of AI. F5 has been a proven leader in this space, and the company's vision appears to meet the stringent delivery and security requirements that will be ever present in the AI era," said Zeus Kerravala, founder and Principal Analyst, ZK Research. Learn more about the next generation of ADC -- ADC 3.0 -- at f5.com and preview exciting news coming later this month at AppWorld, F5's flagship app security and delivery conference. Delivering Secure AI Apps for All The acceleration of AI is creating unprecedented application security and delivery challenges for enterprise IT and security teams already mired in hybrid and multicloud complexity. AI applications make larger and more frequent requests of enterprise data stores and AI models often housed in AI factories. This requires advanced high-performance load balancing capable of handling massive amounts of data and complex traffic patterns without creating latency. And, with new AI-focused cybersecurity threats such as model theft, training data poisoning, and prompt injection emerging with the growth of generative AI, attackers are working to infiltrate and hijack both the AI models and the data used to train them. To help enterprises tackle these challenges, F5 has introduced a new AI reference architecture designed to organize AI/ML workflows into seven core building blocks, offering guidance and best practices for security, application traffic management, and platform optimization. It also includes critical considerations such as F5's Application Delivery Top 10 challenges, OWASP's Top 10 security risks for LLMs, and various deployment models. With this architecture, customers can efficiently align their business and technical requirements for AI projects. F5's AI reference architecture enables customers to build secure and highly scalable IT infrastructure required for AI applications, reducing risks, costs, and the need for extensive in-house design efforts. About F5 F5 is a multicloud application security and delivery company committed to bringing a better digital world to life. F5 partners with the world's largest, most advanced organizations to secure every app -- on premises, in the cloud, or at the edge. F5 enables businesses to continuously stay ahead of threats while delivering exceptional, secure digital experiences for their customers. For more information, go to f5.com. (NASDAQ: FFIV)

F5 targets AI-era IT challenges with ADC 3.0 reference architectures - SiliconANGLE

F5 targets AI-era IT challenges with ADC 3.0 reference architectures Application security firm F5 Inc. today laid out a new framework for the evolution of application delivery controllers aimed at addressing the increasing complexity of hybrid, multicloud and artificial intelligence-powered information technology environments. The new ADC framework, known as ADC 3.0, introduces reference architectures and strategic partnerships designed to help enterprises securely deploy and manage modern applications in the era of artificial intelligence. The impetus behind the new framework is the rise of AI. F5's State of Application Strategy Report found that 75% of enterprises are already deploying AI apps in some form. The company argues that despite the rush to implement new digital experiences, enterprises are ill-equipped to secure and deliver both AI applications and the massive amounts of data required to fuel them. ADC 3.0 addresses these issues by emphasizing a platform-based approach that combines high-performance load balancing with robust application and application programming interface security features. The new direction is designed to close the gap between the growing demand for AI-driven applications and the ability of enterprises to deliver them securely at scale. The overall idea is to simplify the complexity of hybrid and multicloud environments while addressing emerging AI-specific threats such as model theft and data poisoning. F5 unveiled a series of reference architectures that streamline AI and machine learning workflows into seven core building blocks. The blocks include best practices for security, application traffic management and platform optimization to give enterprises a clear pathway to aligning their business and technical requirements. The architectures also incorporate critical security considerations such as OWASP's Top 10 risks for large language models and F5's own "Application Delivery Top 10" challenges. As part of ADC 3.0, F5 is also building new strategic partnerships for the framework, collaborating with companies including Nvidia Corp., Intel Corp. and NetApp Inc. Examples include the use of Nvidia's Bluefield-3 DPUs to enhance AI application delivery and using NetApp to assist with large-scale language model deployments. The alliances are designed to provide enterprises with the tools and infrastructure needed to handle the immense data processing and security demands of AI applications. F5 also highlighted its commitment to tackling the broader challenges of IT complexity through its "Application Delivery Top 10" resource. The initiative aims to help enterprises overcome common issues such as siloed management systems, interoperability gaps and manual processes. By addressing these pain points, F5 aims to help enterprises adopt more streamlined and secure approaches to application delivery in the AI era. "The rise of AI and modern applications demands a fundamental rethinking of application security and delivery," said Chief Innovation Officer Kunal Anand. "Traditional approaches fall short in managing today's complex, distributed systems." "Organizations need solutions that provide consistency, flexibility and complete visibility across their IT landscape," Anand added. "F5 has transformed our technology portfolio to meet these challenges head-on, enabling our customers to confidently secure and deliver advanced digital experiences."

F5 Is Returning To Its 'Roots' As It Develops The ADC For The AI Era

'This really goes to the wheelhouse of the business that we have been in with our partner community for as long as we've been in business. ... We're redefining the next era of our business,' F5's channel chief, Lisa Citron, tells CRN ahead of its revamped application delivery control vision. Application delivery and security specialist F5 has a vision for the next generation of application delivery control in the AI era. F5's transformed Application Delivery Controller "ADC 3.0" strategy -- a category that the company has owned -- is focused on security, optimization and app delivery at a time in which ADCs must adapt to take on the demands of modern, AI-fueled apps, Lisa Citron (pictured), F5's channel chief, told CRN. The Seattle-based company is now highlighting reference architectures and key alliances with technology partners like NetApp and Nvidia as it refreshes its approach to the market and provides its partners with the tools they need. "This really goes to the wheelhouse of the business that we have been in with our partner community for as long as we've been in business. ... We're redefining the next era of our business," she said. [Related: F5 CEO On Why The Growth Of AI Apps Will 'Accelerate' API, Edge Security] According to a recent "State of Application Strategy Report" by F5, 75 percent of enterprises reported deploying AI apps in some form. But despite the rush to power new and modern digital experiences, most enterprises are not equipped to secure and deliver AI applications or handle the large amounts of data they require. That's why enterprises need a new approach to the underlying tech stack that is powered by traditional ADC technology, and it's a big area of opportunity for the channel, Citron said. "What I think our partners are really going to love is the fact that we're bringing them and our customers reference architectures and key alliance relationships, where us plus another technology vendor equal solving a huge problem in making AI better, faster, more secure for them," Citron said. F5 is rolling out a series of new reference architectures to organize AI and machine learning workflows into seven core building blocks with the help of its technology partners. The use cases will include compute, data and storage, large language model (LLM) security and observability, and cloud service provider, according to the company. The company in these reference architectures will be highlighting the relationships it has with other technology providers, Citron said. "I can't underscore enough the importance of the relationship we have with Nvidia and the work that we're doing with them to put this AI capability into the hands of end customers," she said. The reference architectures will begin to be made available this week, with more rolling out over time leading up to AppWorld in February, the company's flagship app and API security conference, F5 said. F5, which was formerly known as F5 Networks, in 2021 dropped "Networks" from its name as the company started to emphasize its focus on application services and security. F5 in recent years has adjusted its portfolio based on the needs of the market, including the addition of application security, cloud and mobility. Now it's about addressing AI with the help of partners, Citron said. "We're really excited to be able to think about all of the acquisitions we've made, the technology we have, and strengthening this message of how important application delivery and security is to this era," she said. F5 does 100 percent of its business through channel partners. "What the ADC 3.0 campaign really is doing, in my opinion, is bringing F5 back to its roots of its infrastructure, high availability and delivery of applications, which was what they became famous for when they built the company in 1996. They really invented that space," said Todd Hathaway, global practice manager of AI, app and API security for World Wide Technology (WWT). AI, said Hathaway, was the catalyst for the company's current ADC 3.0 campaign. Longtime F5 partner WWT's Infrastructure and Security teams are actively integrating F5 into its AI go-to-market reference architectures that the company has built alongside its other key AI infrastructure partners, Hathaway said. "F5 doesn't replace any of those other key partners in our solutions. It's an 'and' story for us. It's now we can build our architectures, and you can deliver these applications better and faster with F5 included in our designs," he said.