At its annual Agility conference, F5 announced a major expansion of its application security and delivery portfolio with F5® Distributed Cloud Services that provide security, multi-cloud networking, and edge-based computing solutions on a unified software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform. The company is also launching the first new solution on this platform, F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP (Web Application and API Protection), which augments multiple security capabilities across F5 technologies in one SaaS offering. 

Almost every organisation is currently at a crossroads between two fundamental trends: the expansion of applications as the centre of their consumers' digital lives, and the rise of threats to those applications. Many firms now manage complicated application portfolios that include older legacy and newer current technologies and infrastructures, which provides a significant problem. According to F5's upcoming State of Application Strategy Report for 2022, 88% of enterprises use both old and modern application architectures, and 70% use multiple clouds. Companies are obliged to adopt distinct and frequently inconsistent security policies across diverse settings, increasing the danger surface area.

Over the past several years, F5 has transformed its business and significantly expanded its software and cloud offerings to deliver a broad portfolio of solutions to help customers address this complexity and risk. Through the BIG-IP, NGINX and now F5 Distributed Cloud platforms, F5 offers a range of integrated, machine learning-driven solutions that protect legacy and modern applications and APIs across data center, cloud, and edge locations. The world’s largest organisations, including banks, retailers, service providers, and government agencies, rely on F5 to maintain application availability, protect APIs powering their digital supply chains, address threats like malware and bots, and fight rampant fraud. 

“Applications and the digital experiences they power have become a foundation for human connection and achievement, as well as a platform for significant business innovation and market creation,” said François Locoh-Donou, President and CEO, F5. “We have made it our mission at F5 to help organisations protect these applications from the now-constant barrage of cyberattacks. The launch of F5 Distributed Cloud Services is significant because it provides a simpler way for customers to manage the complex challenge of modern application security.” 

Introducing F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP 
F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP streamlines security and automates processes, allowing application developers to focus on creating features and capabilities that will improve their customers' experience and help them grow their business. F5's industry-leading web application firewall, bot mitigation, DDoS, and API protection features have been consolidated into a single, easy-to-install solution, allowing SecOps and DevOps teams to enforce consistent security policy wherever they need to deploy apps.


The new solution brings together the best of F5 application security technologies, including: 

• Application protection from F5 Advanced WAF, which more effectively and efficiently guards against the most prevalent application attacks

• API security from Volterra’s machine learning-based auto-discovery and anomaly detection, which automates the entire process of finding, securing, and monitoring APIs

• Bot defence based on F5 Shape AI technology

• Global distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) protection 

“We selected F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP against alternative SaaS and CDN-based solutions because of the customizability and simplicity of the solution and how it can enable our aggressive move to the cloud,” said Ian Young, Sr. Manager of Global Networks and Unified Communications, Vertafore. “The ability to easily turn on additional security services through a single platform that we can deploy anywhere is also very compelling.” F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP is globally available from F5 now and will launch in the Azure Marketplace by the end of February. Customers can learn more through a real-time simulator tool and on f5.com. 

“Virtual workforces, digital-first selling, service, and customer experience are driving the need for security services to be closer to the users,” said Erin Chapple, Microsoft Corporate Vice President, Azure Core Product and Design. “The launch of F5 Distributed Cloud WAAP support in Azure gives customers more choice in how they address complex cybersecurity risks for applications running in the cloud.” 

F5 Distributed Cloud Services Bring a New Approach to App Security and Delivery 
The F5 Distributed Cloud Platform provides cloud-native SaaS-based app security and delivery services. These services are centrally managed but can be deployed anywhere the app needs to be to maximise business impact and deliver a superior customer experience. Built on a combination of the platform and services acquired from Volterra and industry-leading F5 and Shape security services, F5 Distributed Cloud Services are unique because they: 

• Deploy natively in multi-cloud, data centre, and edge environments 

• Provide end-to-end visibility and policy control across all apps in a single dashboard

• Provide an integrated global private network in more than 20 major metropolitan areas 

Customers can now take use of a variety of additional F5 Distributed Cloud Services. F5 Distributed Cloud Multi-Cloud Transit provides secure, high-performance connectivity between clouds and a network firewall, enabling multi-cloud networking (MCN) capability. The F5 Distributed Cloud Load Balancer and Kubernetes Gateway integrates a load balancer with Kubernetes and API gateways to make modern workloads and microservices easy to deploy across distributed clusters, geographies, and cloud providers. An app delivery network (ADN), a cloud-native computing capability at the network's edge, improves end-user experience by distributing applications to the F5 Global Network's edge.

In addition, F5 has taken steps to integrate the customer experience across its growing portfolio by simplifying product naming. Many F5, Shape, and Volterra services have been renamed as F5 Distributed Cloud Services, including F5 Distributed Cloud Bot Defense, F5 Distributed Cloud DDoS Mitigation, F5 Distributed Cloud WAF, and F5 Distributed Cloud API Security. 

“Asia Pacific continues to be at the forefront of technological advancements and innovations globally. Organisations in the region need to have the right infrastructure to stay agile while being able to scale and support growth trajectories, and applications are the driving force for this change,” added Adam Judd, Senior Vice President, Asia Pacific, China & Japan, F5. “At F5, we understand the evolving needs of our customers and are rapidly integrating our portfolio of services to innovate with speed and agility. The launch of the F5 Distributed Cloud Services is a significant moment for us in navigating the increasing complexities of cybersecurity today.”