F5 Networks has used GITEX to big up its cloud credentials this week, as it seeks to educate customers about the reality of doing business on the cloud.
According to Vincent Lavergne, Senior Pre Sales Manager, South EMEA, F5 hopes to explain to GITEX visitors that cloud computing is a reality, and many customers are turning to F5 in order to streamline their data centres for the transition to the cloud.
“There’s a lot of evolution in the way that customers are using us, and we want to demonstrate that this is a reality. A lot of customers are using us,” he told 60 Minutes.
Lavergne explained that F5’s interest in the cloud revolved around applications and application delivery. F5 can be thought of as the middleware platform between the clients and the application, he said, adding that the vendor saw cloud as a new way to deliver platforms and applications.
“We are a key component of this infrastructure. It’s not that we are shifting everything to the cloud – for us, cloud is an evolution of IT, and IT is becoming more of a service,” he said.
“The idea is to let IT evolve and to make it as a service. As a service, it means that users have more power. We’re very hungry as users in terms of what we want. We want to consume applications, and we want them now, on our new mobile phones.”
Already, the F5 stand, located in the cloud-centred Hall 6 of DWTC, has seen plenty of customers asking about the network logistics of adopting cloud-based technologies. And many others, Lavergne said, have asked about the first step on that journey – network virtualisation.
That said, cloud will not be F5’s only focus for the remainder of GITEX 2013. While the company is unable to launch any new products – due to it being three days away from revealing a quarterly earnings report – the vendor is showcasing its current range of solutions, and meeting as many customers and partners as it can.
