F5 Networks’ GITEX Technology Week 2019 will focus on how multi-cloud application services and DevOps methodologies can enable digital transformation and growth across the Middle East.

The company will also share insight on its latest solution offerings and news, including the recent acquisition of NGINX.

“The true value of the modern enterprise resides in its applications and data. We call this Application Capital. Given the Middle East’s growing adoption of cloud computing, we believe that Application Capital is now a key driver for differentiation, innovation and value creation in the region,” said Tabrez Surve, Regional Director – Gulf Levant & Turkey, F5 Networks.

“True digital transformation can only occur if organisations fully understand and invest in the concept of Application Capital, particularly in the context of multi-cloud application services and associated infrastructures. For example, it is now possible to attach individual services to applications based on specific needs. It is also possible to achieve consistent quality and security across entire application portfolios. This is critical at a time when much of the user experience is digital, delivered via the cloud, and increasingly built by developer teams outside of the IT organisation.”

F5’s key GITEX 2019 focus areas include:

• F5 and NGINX

F5 completed the acquisition of NGINX in May, and GITEX will be first time both companies join forces at a major industry event in the Middle East.

F5 and NGINX is a powerful combination, capable of empowering NetOps and DevOps customers with enterprise-grade services for all applications—traditional and modern—wherever they are built or deployed. Together, F5 and NGINX can provide an integrated platform and a unified customer experience for management across the entire app spectrum – from code to customer.

• Multi-cloud application services

F5’s 2019 State of Application Services report found that almost nine out of ten surveyed global organisations have multi-cloud architectures in place, largely driven by application-first methodologies. The biggest cited challenge is to enforce consistent security and ensure reliable performance when applications are distributed across multiple cloud platforms. GITEX 2019 will see F5 address such concerns head on, including showcasing F5® Cloud Services, which are cloud-native SaaS solutions with enhanced application delivery, security, and insight capabilities.

F5 Cloud Services accelerate application delivery through a frictionless, intuitive multi-cloud platform. All SaaS solutions are optimised for cloud-native applications and microservices. They have modern interfaces, including an intuitive user experience for low-touch configuration, and can be fully automated via comprehensive declarative APIs.

Built in a pay-as-you-go model, Cloud Services offer predictable pricing, flexibility, and the ability to auto-scale to meet changing demand. All Cloud Services are architected on an anycast network for fast, global accessibility and scalability—ensuring services are delivered closest to origination requests.

• Security to the fore

Key security solutions in the GITEX 2019 spotlight include F5 Advanced WAF™, which protects web applications and APIs from attacks like injections, web attacks, and application layer denial of service (DoS).

Advanced capabilities include proactive bot defence and protection against credential attacks, including credential stuffing and app-level credential encryption.

Meanwhile, integration with vulnerability assessment solutions enable accurate vulnerability scanning and detection for fast vulnerability mitigation.

In addition, behavioural analytics leverage machine learning to deploy dynamic signatures and enable auto-thresholding.

F5’s Advanced WAF supports a variety of consumption and licensing models, including a per-app basis, as well as perpetual, subscription, and utility billing options for ultimate flexibility in the cloud and the data centre. This helps SecOps better collaborate with modern DevOps and NetOps teams to deploy app protection services in any environment. F5’s holistic approach to application security reduces management complexity, decreases OpEx, and efficiently delivers services to neutralise attacks.

F5® SSL Orchestrator (SSLO) is another solution set to feature prominently.

Today’s organisations must protect critical assets from threats originating both inside and outside corporate environments. Although most traffic is encrypted, many existing security controls are unable to perform decryption at the scale required to enable inspection, leaving critical assets vulnerable.

F5 SSLO is a purpose-built solution delivering policy-based orchestration and SSL/TLS decryption and encryption for inbound and outbound traffic. It enables visibility across the full security stack for any network topology, device, or application. Significantly, the high-performance decryption and encryption of inbound and outbound SSL/TLS traffic enables security devices to inspect traffic and expose threats while preserving end-to-end encryption, maximizing their security services investment for malware, DLP, and ransomware. It also prevents inbound and outbound threats, including exploitation, call-back, and data exfiltration. Furthermore, dynamic service chaining and policy-based traffic steering allow organisations to intelligently manage encrypted traffic flows across the entire security chain with optimal availability.

F5 Networks is located in Hall 6, Stand H6-C1