A quick heads up: F5 Networks has tapped Gary Abad as VP of North America Channel Sales. He reports to global channel chief Dean Darwin. Here are some fast details about the news.

Abad has 20 years experience in the tech sector. Before this move, Abad was a VP of Channel Sales at Polycom. Earlier, he held business development positions at Novell and Symbol Technologies (now owned by Motorola).

“With Gary’s history of success, we have every confidence in his ability to lead our North America team, and we look forward to his contributions to F5’s worldwide channel objectives as well.” said Dean Darwin, VP of worldwide channel sales, in a prepared statement.

F5 specializes in a so-called Application Delivery Networking (ADN), which allows remote and branch offices to quickly access central applications. Generally speaking, F5 has weathered the economic storm better than most technology companies. For its fiscal year 2009, revenue was $653.1 million, up slightly from $650.2 million in fiscal 2008, according to an October 2009 earnings release.