F5 Networks is known for its BIG-IP technology covering a range of data center needs. But that’s not enough, because now F5 Networks is bringing ICSA Labs-certified firewall solutions to its portfolio. I spoke with F5 Network’s Director of Product Management for Security Solutions Mark Vodemkamp and VP of Worldwide Channel Sales Dean Darwin about the launch. Here’s what VARs should know …

As a refresher, ICSA Labs is a third-party accreditation lab that tests firewall security servers. Essentially, the lab crash-tests hardware to make sure it lives up to a vendor’s expectations. For F5 Networks, having this certification means customers and VARs can have “dramatically better price/performance than traditional firewalls,” Vodemkamp said.

F5 Networks’ unique firewall can be deployed on BIG-IP Application Delivery Controllers, and completes F5’s “unified security strategy” focus. According to F5 Networks in its press release, this is “… the first time in the industry organizations can secure their networks, data, protocols, applications and users on a single, flexible and extensible platform.” That level of conglomeration allegedly can help reduce hardware and operational costs by “as much as 50 percent” in addition to making it much easier to prevent against layered DDoS attacks and zero-day threats.

But more importantly, how does this help F5’s channel partners? Darwin said it’s because the kind of product F5 Networks is offering is, quite simply, different. F5 Networks isn’t a firewall company trying to do more, it’s a full-blown networking company “coming down the firewall market,” Darwin said. More simply, he noted, F5 Networks is bringing a gun to a firewall knife fight. It’s not overkill (no pun intended); rather, it’s a paradigm shift.

“I think there’s a whole misnomer about the next-generation firewall marketing tag. It might not be the right tool,” said Darwin, noting F5 is offering a solution that solves extensibility, throughput and security issues all inside one box, instead of a traditional firewall solution, which only attacks particular security threats.

Vodemkamp added that F5 Networks’ technology can also help consolidate data center technology, with one single F5 box doing what 10 Juniper boxes does. “Math doesn’t lie,” he said.

Darwin noted the company is offering considerable margin on this technology and believes its partners will feel confident going to market with it. “We’ve had some major companies coming into our tech center to do testing,” and F5 won these “bake-offs,” he said.

But even if a company is entrenched with more another vendor’s boxes, Darwin believes channel partners still have the opportunity to go after businesses that already have “$50 million [invested] with a traditional firewall company,” because “if they can’t solve their problems with their current tool, they’re going to lose anyway. F5 offers a complimentary strategy … with stickiness,” he said.

F5 Networks has also recently dipped its toe in the the mobile device management pool, by securing Android devices with BIG-IP. We’ll continue keep a sharp eye on F5 Networks, especially since the company seems poised to expand in 2012.