F5 Networks Releases FIPS-Certified SSL Accelerator, New Servers

📅 January 30, 2002 - F5 Networks, Inc. (f5.com -> hostinger.com), a provider of Internet trafficand content management products, today announced that F5's BIG-IP product isthe first Internet traffic management solution with a FIPS1 (FederalInformation Processing Standard)-certified SSL accelerator. F5's FIPSproducts meet higher levels of security standards, required by Governmentagencies, financial services, and healthcare organizations, by integrating atamper-resistant, key protection module and sophisticated key managementcapabilities into its BIG-IP products.

"F5 has established an early leadership position in the Multipurpose Deviceswith SSL Hardware Acceleration category according to our SSL AccelerationHardware Worldwide Market Share and Forecasts for 1H01," said Neil Osipuk,directing analyst at Infonetics Research. "As a natural next step for thecompany, the BIG-IP FIPS hardware option provides a higher level ofapplication security for customers, like Government agencies, that areeither required by law or those that have chosen to adopt FIPS-basedproducts on their own accord."
BIG-IP is the only traffic management product available today that comesintegrated with a FIPS 140-1 Level 3 certified SSL accelerator, the companysaid. Other solutions require a separate system or the FIPS-certified cardfor each Web server. The F5 solution offers a unique key managementframework that enables a scalable, e-security infrastructure to easily addnew services and handle higher traffic levels. Additionally, BIG-IP's FIPSSSL accelerator uses smart cards to authenticate administrators, grantaccess rights and share administrative responsibilities, providing aflexible means for enforcing key management security.
This product will be available with BIG-IP version 4.2 in mid-Feb. TheBIG-IP FIPS SSL Accelerator is a hardware option for BIG-IP Controllersrunning version 4.2 and is priced at U.S. list $17,990. BIG-IP FIPSe-Commerce 540 is a standalone system and is priced at U.S. list $25,990.
F5 Networks also announced that it is delivering a new generation of IPserver appliances: the BIG-IP 520 and 540. The new BIG-IP 520 and 540 have ahigher amount of processing power and expandability, rounding out the totalBIG-IP product family, which also includes the BIG-IP 5000 and BIG-IP 2000IP Application Switch products.
The BIG-IP 520 and 540 are high-performance server appliances for managingand securing IP-based traffic for Web servers, caches, firewalls,application servers, VPN gateways, and other devices. The BIG-IP 520 and 540provide the necessary processing power to deeply examine IP-traffic packetsand intelligently direct traffic to the correct server, application orresource within a data center.
The BIG-IP 520 base unit comes standard with a single Pentium III 1 GHzprocessor, 2 10/100 Fast Ethernet ports, 256 MB of memory. The BIG-IP 540comes standard with dual Pentium III 1 GHz processors, 2 10/100 FastEthernet ports, and 512 MB of memory. Because they share a common platform,the units can be expanded utilizing 3 PCI slots. This provides enterprisesand service providers with the ability to customize the server appliancewith additional Network Interface Cards for additional ports or SSL cardsfor security and SSL acceleration.