ADCs Provide Hybrid Cloud Control

Once IT organizations fully embrace cloud computing services it’s not too long before they start looking for an application delivery controller (ADC) to help manage resource allocation across all the applications running on a particular cloud. To make going about doing that across multiple cloud services simpler, F5 Networks this week unveiled an F5 Ready program that makes it possible to more affordably implement ADCs on multiple clouds.

At its core the F5 Ready program consists of a Bring Your Own License (BYOL) that makes it possible to move any virtual edition of a BIG-IP ADC between clouds or an on premise deployments; a utility pricing option that enables organizations to treat those instances of BIG-IP as an operating expense; and volume licensing terms that can reduce the cost of deploying ADCs in the cloud by as much as 67 percent.

Whenever developers deploy an application in the cloud they generally make use of load balancing software. Alex Rublowsky, senior director of product management for F5 Networks, said an ADC takes that concept to a higher level by adding additional layers of security in addition to providing tools that make the cloud environment more programmable. That capability is especially critical in hybrid cloud computing environments where IT organization either find themselves managing multiple clouds or need to be able to apply the same rules they set up for an ADC deployed on premise to one they set up in the cloud, said Rublowsky.

Via this program Rublowsky says that F5 Network is also certifying compatibility with various public cloud service providers, including Amazon Web Services (AWS), Bluelock, BT, Cisco Intercloud, Datacom, Dimension Data, Microsoft Azure, Rackspace, SingleHop, Skytap, and VMware vCloud Air. F5 Networks is also pledging to continue to add cloud providers to expand the program around the globe.

Regardless of how much money a solution provider might actually be making on the public cloud, internal IT organizations are keenly interested in being able to exercise control over these environments. More often than not the control point those internal IT organizations are mist comfortable with is the ADC platform they already use. As such, there’s a clear opportunity for solution provider to add value by extending the reach of those ADCs in a way that creates a federated control plane across hybrid cloud computing environment.

The only real challenge is first making the IT organization aware they can actually exercise that level of control and then actually guiding them through the process of attaining it. Once it’s in place the level of cloud management maturity of that IT organization will be several of orders magnitude higher, which should create additional opportunities for cloud savvy solution providers for years to come.