Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Tue, February 10, 2009 F5 Selected by New Zealand?s #1 Online Marketplace to Ensure a Superior Experience for Millions of Users
SYDNEY--([ BUSINESS WIRE ])--[ F5 Networks, Inc. ] (NASDAQ: [ FFIV ]), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking, today announced that New Zealand's largest online marketplace, [ Trade Me Ltd. ], has implemented F5's [ VIPRION ]® Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) to effectively manage the growing demands of the millions of people using its popular site. In addition, Trade Me has also purchased F5® [ BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager ]™ (LTM™), BIG-IP [ Global Traffic Manager ]™ (GTM™), and BIG-IP [ Application Security Manager ]™ (ASM™) solutions to secure, optimize, and deliver its applications, enabling the company to effectively and competitively run its business.
With over two million registered members, and more than four million visitors to its site every month*, Trade Me required a solution that could effectively scale to meet growing business demands. "This is a strategic investment for Trade Me," said David Wasley, Trade Me's Head of Infrastructure. "We're already New Zealand's most popular website, accounting for 68 percent of domestic traffici, and F5's Application Delivery Networking solutions and expertise will now become our technological linchpin as we continue to expand our operations and offer innovative services to our users."
The F5 Networks® [ iRules ]™ scripting language also enables Trade Me to customize how it intercepts, inspects, transforms, and directs inbound or outbound application traffic. iRules provides Trade Me with unprecedented control to directly manipulate and manage any IP application traffic.
"F5's systems—now live in production—have already proven their worth, allowing Trade Me to manipulate traffic on a per-ISP basis," added Wasley. "By using F5's iRules, the auction site was able to re-route traffic during an ISP-related glitch that, without F5's technology, would have resulted in a costly outage."
"Trade Me chose F5 equipment because of features unavailable elsewhere, specifically the flexibility it offered for managing network traffic, as well as [ load balancing technologies ]," Wasley continued. "The VIPRION hardware will allow us to seamlessly add blades ‘on-the-fly' and boost Trade Me's performance as needed. That's exactly the type of scalability that makes us comfortable that the F5 solution can support our future needs."
Leveraging ADCs' Advanced Capabilities
Trade Me will be using F5® systems to offload its compression, SSL, and image caching functions from its application servers in expectation of reducing current load by 25 percent. This will reduce Trade Me's operating costs and potentially limit its carbon footprint through efficiency gains as well.
Already carbon-neutral, Trade Me is continuously looking for ways to further enhance its Green IT strategy by using F5's [ iControl ]® API—the industry's first open application programming interface that enables applications to work in concert with the underlying network based on true software integration.
"We have plans to look at using iControl where we can shut down servers during times of low load—such as the middle of the night. Additionally, the VIPRION devices save us a couple of RU [rack-unit] spaces in each rack," added Wasley.
Trade Me operates from data centers in both Auckland and Wellington, New Zealand, and F5's BIG-IP GTM will route web users to the closest or best-performing data center. Wasley said he also expects to use F5's BIG-IP ASM solution to increase the security of Trade Me's operations by preventing the circumvention of Trade Me's processes without requiring application changes.
"From a technical point of view, VIPRION solutions can accomplish almost anything we can think of, which gives us a real advantage as we continue to expand Trade Me's presence into property, motors, jobs, and travel. And, should we move into something that's video-intensive, we know VIPRION will be there to support this as well," Wasley stated.
"We're excited and pleased to team with the premier online trading site in the region," said Michael Dodds, New Zealand Regional Sales Director at F5. "Trade Me can rely on our partnership, supported by [ F5 solutions ] that will give them even greater business agility and operational efficiency. The F5 solution deployed has been architected to be a forward-looking platform that will keep Trade Me at the forefront of innovation in the online trading world."
For more information on F5's VIPRION and BIG-IP solutions, please visit [ www.f5.com/products/ ].
*To view Trade Me website stats, go to [ www.trademe.co.nz/Community/SiteStats.aspx ].
About F5 Networks
F5 Networks is the global leader in Application Delivery Networking. F5 provides solutions that make applications secure, fast, and available for everyone. By adding intelligence and manageability into the network to offload applications and optimize the data storage layer, F5 extends the power of intelligent networking to all levels of application delivery. F5's extensible architecture optimizes applications, delivers application reliability, and protects the application and network. Enterprise organizations, service providers and Web 2.0 content providers worldwide trust F5 to keep their applications running. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices worldwide. For more information, go to [ www.f5.com ].
F5, F5 Networks, BIG-IP, VIPRION, Local Traffic Manager, LTM, Global Traffic Manager, GTM, Application Security Manager, ASM, iRules, and iControl are trademarks or service marks of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.
This press release may contain forward looking statements relating to future events or future financial performance that involve risks and uncertainties. Such statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of such terms or comparable terms. These statements are only predictions and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these statements based upon a number of factors including those identified in the company's filings with the SEC.
i As measured by Nielsen Online Market Intelligence
