F5 Networks launched on Tuesday its high performance and scalable carrier-class firewall solution focused on delivering end-to-end security across service provider networks. The standalone carrier-class firewall supports up to 1.2 billion concurrent connections and over 20 million connections per second.
This announcement is aligned with F5’s commitment to expand its portfolio of dedicated security offerings. F5’s carrier-class firewall is designed to address security concerns around the growth of the Internet of Things (IoT), migration to 5G and NFV networks, as well as increased security vulnerabilities affecting devices, networks, and applications.
Set to be available in the third calendar quarter of this year, F5’s standalone Carrier-Class Firewall provides end-to-end security. From customer billing and provisioning systems to protecting LTE network infrastructure and strengthening mobile device security—APTs and DDoS attacks don’t stand a chance. Its multilayered redundant security platform supports new 4G-LTE, 5G, and VoLTE technologies and integrates with NFV environments.
The core networks of service providers face threats from multiple points—devices, networks, applications—while network attacks also impact the DNS, control plane, and signalling (including SIP and Diameter). F5’s consolidated portfolio of L4–L7 services, including the integration of CGNAT, provides end-to-end security and delivers a multi-layered solution to protect the application, control plane, and data plane against APTs and DDoS attacks.
This enables service providers to protect their brand and retain customers by improving Quality of Experience for their subscribers while future-proofing their networks as they evolve their network architectures.
5G networks have ultra-low latency characteristics to handle the growth associated with IoT. To secure future networks, service providers need to increase the agility, performance, and security of the Gi LAN.
F5 offers service providers critical performance solutions that can scale in concurrent connections and connection per seconds (CPS) to support the requirements for 5G and IoT. A recent study done by independent research firm ACG revealed F5’s Carrier-Class Firewall (based on VIPRION 4800) achieved up to 80 percent lower TCO than alternative offerings while providing 216 percent higher ROI.
“Service providers today are responding to the exponential growth of subscribers, data, devices, and the Internet of Things by re-architecting their networks and making sure they can scale,” said Mallik Tatipamula, F5 Networks’ vice president for service provider solutions. “There are significant challenges when it comes to protecting the security of these networks. F5 security solutions protect service provider networks from attacks, enabling the security of subscribers, devices, and core network elements such as the Gi LAN and data centre,” said Mallik Tatipamula, Vice President for Service Provider Solutions, F5 Networks.
“The relentless, rapid growth in number of users, devices, and applications on mobile networks creates a need for operators’ security solutions to scale efficiently on a similar trajectory,” said Paul Parker-Johnson, Principal Analyst, ACG Research. “This is true on every plane of operation and in all application areas. A central element in achieving these goals is the carrier-class firewall in the Gi LAN. Firewall scaling on multiple dimensions—number of concurrent sessions, connection setups per second, and throughput—is critical. F5 has skilfully achieved a balance of capabilities in its carrier-class firewall that delivers superior performance on each of these important dimensions for the Gi LAN with a compelling economic return.”
