F5 Networks Sets Sites On Bigger Business Conversation

In the coming year, F5 Networks will commit more resources to its partners than ever before, as the application delivery networking vendor sets its sites on bigger pieces of the security infrastructure, data center and cloud computing pies.

At F5 Networks' Agility conference in Chicago, where more than 560 partner representatives and 275 customers are in attendance, F5 has championed partners as the big push behind its march to $1 billion in revenue -- a milestone it expects to reach as its fiscal year ends in September.

What's coming next, said Steve McChesney, vice president, channel sales, Americas, is more from F5 in the areas of partner planning, partner marketing, partner services and partner-led profitability. Several key programs, including F5's current accreditation program and forthcoming certification offering, are designed to better equip partners taking F5 products into all pieces of the data center sale, from storage to security.

According to McChesney, F5's average deal size through partners is nearly $100,000 -- more than double of what it was a decade ago, and 10 percent larger than the previous year. McChesney urged partners to embrace the full gamut of F5 resources, including DevCentral, F5's user community portal for helping partners share best practices, built software and hear from F5 engineers.

DevCentral, said McChesney, offers access to more than 80,000 users and 500 pieces of sample material to "jumpstart" F5 projects.

Overall, F5 partners have a rich opportunity to have business transformation conversations with users on a cloud migration path. Using industry research from Enterprise Strategy Group and other sources, Dean Darwin, F5's vice president, worldwide channels identified three trends happening with customers on a worldwide basis.

First, he said, server virtualization is becoming ubiquitous, even if 58 percent of organizations have virtualized less than one third of their servers. Second, IT-owned workloads still dominate the customer landscape, and 59 percent of customers have not yet virtualized any mission-critical applications. Third, dynamic IT is still more a vision than a reality.

But those trends still reflect the reality of how channel partners need to engage customers. F5, said Darwin, solves a lot of the problems customers have at the application layer -- a point made repeatedly by other F5 executives at Agility -- and partners need to bring F5 products in as business conversations, not as product resale.

"The selling lanes have changed," Darwin said, referencing financial legend Warren Buffett's thought that "only when the tide goes out do you discover who's been swimming naked."

Coming rapidly into focus, Darwin said, are that large VARs and systems integrators are building their own cloud offerings, and are looking to partner with cloud providers, such as Rackspace, as cloud services agents.

That makes all the sense in the world for F5's channel, Darwin said, because its products and services fit between so many different data center disciplines.

"And we are absolutely getting into the ring when it comes to security," he added, referencing a push by F5 to become better known as a security infrastructure player as much as it is an application delivery networking vendor.

"F5 can be a door opener for a lot of discussions," he said. "The closer you get to the application, the healthier you're going to be and the more business discussions you're going to have."

Tim Abbott, solutions architect at Trace 3, a security solution provider and F5 partner based in Irvine, Calif., said Trace 3 had in the past positioned F5 before as a load balancer, or for its Global Traffic Manager (LTM) capability in the BIG-IP platform, or any one or several capabilities the F5 product set offers. The upsell opportunity, with more customers looking to make their data centers more efficient, is enormous.

"We're only scratching the surface with our customers on all the features it can provide," he said.

Trace 3 sells the entire F5 portfolio and has seen its F5 sales grow nearly 40 percent year-over-year. F5's positioning -- for partners to focus on the business transformation that comes from optimizing applications -- is spot-on, Abbott said.

"Who cares about servers, we care about the applications," he said. "When you're virtualizing an infrastructure, you're asking what applications are you trying to virtualize and how are you making that application better to the customer. Once you figure out what applications you want to virtualize, you'll get the funding. If you can make the app faster, the doors are open. Once those doors are open, I can sell you the F5 product."

Next: F5's Vendor Partnerships Bear Fruit

Partners said that another big piece of F5's appeal is how its products can fit with those of data center-focused vendors with a big stake in the cloud computing move.

Rackspace, for example, told F5 partners Thursday it will be doing more to encourage joint F5-Rackspace solution sales.

Robert Fuller, vice president of worldwide channels, and John Engates, CTO, at Rackspace, said that hosted cloud provider will grandfather F5 partners into the tier equivalent, in Rackspace's channel program, of their F5 Unity partner program status -- an announcement that brought applause from the F5 crowd.

"Let's bridge that into the Rackspace program, so you get the high-level compensation," Engates said.

The companies will partner in other ways, too. F5 plans to credit the F5 portion of a solution hosted at Rackspace toward an F5 partner's partner tier attachment, Fuller said. There will also be joint sales development between the two companies, and payment acceleration options that let VARs draw from future compensation payments by Rackspace to offset upfront costs.

Storage ace NetApp was another F5 vendor partner at Agility touting greater vendor alignment between the two channels. Jim Sangster, senior director of solutions marketing at NetApp, said he's seeing the opportunity for NetApp storage and F5 infrastructure sales to expand, with more customers looking for seamless migration paths to cloud.

"The discussion around the applications is really what it's all about," Sangster told partners.

Is It Best For F5 Networks To Sell-Off Itself?

F5 networks this week traded up 12% higher following reports that the company retained Goldman Sachs to represent the company in the wake of apparent buyout offers. In the past, F5 has surfaced as a potential acquisition target among the tech giants such as IBM , Cisco and Juniper . As is generally the case, neither Goldman nor F5 would comment. Although no deal has arisen from any previous such talks, here are reasons as to why F5 Networks might well consider a sell-off this time. Consider the following:

For information, please refer to our complete analysis for F5 Networks

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Best Networking Certifications for 2024

Those serious about their information technology (IT) careers should consider one or more of these networking certifications to set themselves apart from their competitors.

When it comes to the care and feeding of modern networks, there’s quite a lengthy list of tools and technologies that qualified IT professionals must master ― especially those who aspire to work as network administrators. In addition to the servers and clients that make up the endpoints in such environments, there’s a lot of network infrastructure to worry about. Add to that the services that run atop of this and related cybersecurity concerns and there is an abundance of focus areas sprouting out of networking.

Those serious about their IT careers should consider one or more of these networking certifications to set themselves apart from their competitors. We’ve put together this article to help make sense of the entirety of the networking certification space. 

We’ve narrowed down the broad range of existing computer networking certifications into more specific categories, within which we’ve highlighted some of the best specific certifications on the market. 

Computer networking certifications continue to be a gold standard for showing overall knowledge of the networking environment. While networks and their operations have changed drastically over the years — especially with the shift to flexible work and the increasing adoption of cloud technologies — understanding computers is still critical to any more advanced IT role. Networking certifications also open up more advanced areas of study, including cybersecurity roles, network architecture and more advanced system administrator roles. 

Obtaining these certifications demonstrates a willingness to learn as well as mastery of networking essentials. Some of the more advanced certificates are also specifically focused, which can help applicants demonstrate more advanced knowledge of specific technology suites, such as Cisco. Any of these certifications though will help demonstrate knowledge in the computer networking space and make a strong case for job candidates who hold them.

Some of the best computer networking certifications include: 

Voice-over-internet-protocol (VoIP) and telephony certifications demonstrate an applicant’s knowledge of designing, implementing and maintaining these communication systems. As corporate voice and telephony services have transformed from traditional public-switched telephone networks and private branch exchanges (PBXs) to VoIP and IP PBXs, VoIP and telephony certifications now focus on digital communications, along with a good mix of IP networking protocols and methods to support such traffic and to maintain service quality. Additionally, VoIP and telephony systems are often combined with digital fax, videoconferencing, instant messaging and mobile communications. 

Obtaining a VoIP and telephony certification demonstrates capability in telecommunications technology. Vendor-specific certifications also exist, which can lead to further career growth and employee specialization. Certificate holders can also apply for more specialized roles in this field and may be more likely to receive promotions or competitive offers from potential employers. 

Some of the most valuable VoIP and telephony certifications include: 

Unified communications (UC) streamlines communications so that geographically dispersed employees can interact digitally as if they’re in the same office, even if they’re located thousands of miles apart. Centralized administration also makes UC popular with IT managers because it reduces the time and effort needed to support and secure corporate communications of all kinds. Because of a need for specialized skills to make large-scale UC implementations run their best, top UC vendors offer certifications to buttress and boost workforce capability and quality.

UC certifications are in high demand. Job search boards list thousands of open positions for UC certification holders in aggregate. Obtaining a UC certification demonstrates hands-on capability, as well as a strong understanding of the technologies running under the UC hood. 

Some of the best UC certifications, along with related cloud certifications, include: 

Red Hat Inc. provides open-source software solutions to a wide range of clients, including a majority of Fortune 500 companies. While the company is perhaps best known for its Red Hat Enterprise Linux distribution, Red Hat also produces a full technology stack including  JBoss middleware, cross-platform virtualization and cloud computing (CloudForms and OpenStack) solutions. Red Hat offers a wide range of certifications covering its diverse product lines and possible employee roles. 

These certifications prepare professionals for roles that require knowledge of the Red Hat environment. Many of these certifications also provide transferable knowledge of Linux and networking components, opening the doors for candidates to additional further growth opportunities. 

Some of the best certifications include: 

As cybercrime becomes more prevalent, cybersecurity certifications are more important than ever. Several great cybersecurity certifications help to fill in the cybersecurity knowledge gap while also educating about computer networking concepts — a major bedrock of cybersecurity overall.

Earning a beginner cybersecurity certificate can help launch a cybersecurity career, as well as fill in knowledge gaps applicable to system administrators, network engineers or other similar roles. There are thousands of job listings mentioning these certifications. Some of our favorites include: 

Cybersecurity skills are in high demand. According to the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), there are almost 700,000 open cybersecurity roles in the United States with continued labor shortages in this area.

Skills and certifications related to networked forms of storage, such as storage area networks, network-attached storage, virtualized storage and storage as a service, are in high demand. Like the rest of the tech industry, a variety of vendor-specific and general knowledge certifications exist in this area. 

A search across the job boards reveals hundreds of positions mentioning various storage certifications. A few of the standouts can help applicants stand out in this field while also nurturing either generalized or specific skills. Some of our favorite certifications in this space include: 

There’s been a steady demand for digital forensics certifications for the past several years, as computer crime rates continue to escalate. These certifications demonstrate a knowledge of how to perform aspects of digital forensics, including data recovery, evidence preservation and digital artifact preservation. 

These certifications can help individuals find employment with law enforcement or government roles, which may require specific certifications as evidence of meeting minimum standards. Many of these certifications are mentioned hundreds of thousands of times across job listings for specific, open roles. Some of the best digital forensics certifications include: 

The majority of networks most people interact with on a daily basis — either professionally or personally —  are wireless. These certifications cover various aspects of wireless networking, from understanding the underlying technologies to covering design and security aspects of network implementation.

As wireless networking continues to expand and evolve, especially with the addition of 5G networks and blended cellular data networks, certifications can help candidates stand out from the rest of the job application pack. Some of our favorite wireless networking certifications cover a wide range of subject areas to help prepare employees for the future of networking. These certifications include: 

Today’s organizations are looking for better ways to pull the information they need from massive volumes of data available to them. Big data system administrators store, manage and transfer large sets of data, making them amenable to analysis.

Along with the surge in big data interest comes a growing number of certifications to recognize the necessary skills in working with enormous data sets. The target audience is IT professionals with a background in analytics, data mining, business intelligence or data management, along with a knack for and interest in mathematics and statistics.

Some of our favorite big data certifications include: 

The adoption of big data is relatively new, only emerging in 2005 with the emergence of large quantities of data being collected through platforms, such as YouTube and Facebook. Since then, data has exploded in value.

Founded in 2000, the International Association of Privacy Professionals (IAPP) is more than just a certification body. It is a full-fledged not-for-profit membership association with a focus on information privacy concerns and topics. Its membership includes both individuals and organizations, in the tens of thousands for the former and the hundreds for the latter, including many Fortune 500 outfits.

The IAPP has developed a globally recognized certification program around information privacy. All these certifications comply with the ANSI/ISO/IEC 17024 standard, which means they have been developed to meet stringent requirements for analyzing the subject matter and the fields of work to which they apply.

The IAPP’s certifications include: 

Privacy standards have become increasingly important as various regulatory bodies have put in place privacy-focused regulations, such as the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation, the United Kingdom’s Data Protection and Digital Information Bill and the California Consumer Privacy Act.

The SANS Institute was founded in 1989 to provide IT security and administration information, thought leadership and vendor-neutral training for individuals and businesses. SANS presents in-class courses, training events and technical conferences worldwide. It also offers self-paced online training (SANS OnDemand) and interactive virtual training (SANS Live Online).

SANS courses are known to be expensive. However, these certifications are frequently held in extremely high regard and feature some of the best training available from industry experts. SANS offers training across the entire technology spectrum, covering cyber defense, cyber offense, cloud, open source intelligence, security architecture and more. 

Picking the best SANS GIAC certifications is difficult, as the course catalog is so broad and uniformly well done. However, some well-regarded standouts from SANS include: 

Data center certifications are intended for professionals who either work or aspire to work in or manage data centers. These certifications cover a large area, including data center security, efficiency, management and design. 

Earning a data center certification showcases a holder’s knowledge and ability to take on data center-related tasks. Like other certifications, data center certifications come in both generalized knowledge and vendor-specific flavors, providing utility to a wide range of learners. 

Some of the best data center certifications include: