F5 Networks Announces Support to Microsoft System Center

F5 Networks, a provider of application delivery networking, has announced its support of Microsoft’s (News - Alert) Get Virtual Now launch event.

 

Together F5 and Microsoft’s solutions enable organizations to “unlock the power of a comprehensive virtualized ecosystem from the data center to the desktop,” according to the companies.

 

Working in tandem Microsoft’s virtualization strategy and F5 solutions provide a comprehensive infrastructure framework, giving joint customers the IT agility to adapt to varying network and business conditions.

 

Companies officials said that the solution from their companies enable organizations to integrate virtualization technologies into their infrastructures while maintaining the manageability and familiarity of their legacy IT environments.

 

David Greschler, director of integrated virtualization strategy at Microsoft, said in a statement that F5’s integration with the System Center management offerings will provide mutual customers visibility into the network and the ability to respond to changing network conditions to help maximize their virtualization investments.

 

Zeus Kerravala (News - Alert), senior vice president of global enterprise research at Yankee Group, believes that F5’s strategic position in the network, together with their integration with Microsoft’s System Center portfolio, enables them to provide significant performance and optimization benefits for customers seeking to implement an end-to-end virtualization strategy.

 

F5 provides tested deployment guidance for Microsoft System Center. Company’s Management Pack for Microsoft System Center Operations Manager 2007 is an add-on software module available in the first half of CY09 that enables operations manager to monitor and respond to changing network conditions.

 

While F5’s PowerShell-enabled iControl API allows System Center to modify the network to ensure the best end-user experience, the F5 Acopia ARX solution provides virtualized storage capabilities that create an abstraction layer between users and disk.

 

“Organizations adopt virtualization solutions to dynamically migrate their server, application, storage, and desktop resources into a fluid IT environment that ensures optimal use of IT resources at all times,” said Jim Ritchings, vice president of business development at F5.

 

He also said that to truly take advantage of the performance gains offered by virtualization, it’s essential that the network supporting these virtualized resources be dynamic as well.

 

“F5 solutions enable the network to perform in lockstep with application services and make sure that users are always seamlessly directed to the most available and best-performing resources,” added Ritchings.