The VAR Guy Tracks F5 Networks

Back in January, The VAR Guy openly wondered if F5 Networks could become the networking industry’s next $1 billion company. Our resident blogger will have a chance to ask VARs and solutions providers that very question during the F5 Partner Summit in New Orleans this week. And he’ll also listen to F5 CEO John McAdam’s keynote. Here’s a preview.

At first glance, the networking industry has been in turmoil. Cisco is burying numerous rivals; Juniper, Avaya and 3Com have changed executive leadership; Brocade recently acquired Foundry Networks for $3 billion; and open source companies like Digium are disrupting the VoIP industry.

Meanwhile, F5 Networks is quietly on track to become the networking industry’s next $1 billion company. Sure, F5’s most recent quarterly profits didn’t impress investors. But year-over-year quarterly revenue grew 25 percent.

And most importantly: F5 is the rare networking company that actually has a strong applications-focused strategy. The company’s technology bolsters the performance of big Microsoft, Oracle and SAP applications, among others.

So, what do partners think of F5? And what’s the mood within F5? The VAR Guy will poke around today and tomorrow in a quest to answer those questions. Today’s speaker lineup at the conference includes:

• Steve Hale, VP of F5’s North American Partner Organization
• John McAdam, President and CEO of F5
• Andy Reinland, Senior VP and CFO of F5
• And several other members of the executive team

And on July 29, The VAR Guy will be sitting down with several of F5’s key partners to see how they’re feeling about the company, the economy and their overall business prospects.