News

Westcon Group Adds F5 Networks to SecurityPoint Program

TARRYTOWN, NY, Tuesday, March 27, 2007 - Westcon Group, Inc. announced that it has signed a worldwide agreement with F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the global leader in Application Delivery Networking. F5’s products ensure that applications are secure, fast and available by enabling applications and networks to work together efficiently.

Westcon will carry the entire F5 portfolio including the BIG-IP® Local Traffic Manager, its flagship product that delivers superior application networking intelligence, enhancing application performance. F5 is also participating in Westcon’s SecurityPoint program, which combines best of breed network security solutions with an unprecedented array of knowledge resources, market and competitive analysis (by Current Analysis), sales tools and lead generation tools for VARs.

A true innovator in application delivery, F5 has demonstrated market leadership through its advanced TMOS platform that gives customers the flexible network architecture they need to deliver applications successfully. The distribution agreement between Westcon Group and F5 presents an opportunity for both companies to enhance their respective customer bases: F5 has over 10,000 customers worldwide, and Westcon’s strength is in delivering advanced technology solutions to its reseller base, leveraging its multi-national solutions program approach. 

“I am excited about this relationship because of Westcon’s ability to integrate solutions,” said Dean Darwin, vice president of North America Channels for F5. “It’s the right time and place for F5 to have a relationship with Westcon because of their talent in articulating solution sales to the VAR community, as evidenced by their global solution programs like SecurityPoint.”

Laurie Usewicz, vice president and general manager of Westcon’s security practice, added: “We are excited about working with F5 to develop opportunities in Application Delivery Networking for our reseller customers. The proven strength of the F5 product line, combined with our experience in convergence and security, gives us multiple advantages over other distributors in helping customers identify more opportunities and realize greater success in this area.”

Niccolo Alicandri, director of sales of CipherTechs, Inc., a New York, NY based reseller, commented: “F5 and Westcon are a perfect fit since both companies focus on high-end solutions that can bring the most efficiency and productivity to organizations. The complex nature of integrating applications and networks demands a distributor like Westcon, who has the resources in place to help resellers tackle the opportunities before their competitors do.”

To learn more about Westcon’s SecurityPoint program, as well to gain registration information, please access: http://www.securitypoint.westcon.com.

About Westcon Group
Westcon Group, Inc. is the world’s leading specialty distributor in networking, security, mobility and convergence for leading technology vendors, including Cisco, Nortel and Avaya, Inc. Through its Westcon, Comstor and Voda One divisions, Westcon Group sells products and services to resellers, systems integrators and service providers. Westcon Group has particular expertise in the convergence of voice, data and video applications and technologies, including voice-over Internet protocol, or VoIP, security for networking and communications systems, remote access, Internet and e-business, virtual private networks, videoconferencing and wireless connectivity. For more information, visit www.westcongroup.com.

About F5 Networks
F5 Networks is the global leader in Application Delivery Networking. F5 provides solutions that make applications secure, fast and available for everyone, helping organizations get the most out of their investment. By adding intelligence and manageability into the network to offload applications, F5 optimizes applications and allows them to work faster and consume fewer resources. F5's extensible architecture intelligently integrates application optimization, protects the application and the network, and delivers application reliability—all on one universal platform. Over 10,000 organizations and service providers worldwide trust F5 to keep their applications running. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices worldwide. For more information, go to www.f5.com.

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Contact:        

Jeffrey Touzeau                                   
Westcon Group, Inc.                    
(914) 829-7388                          
jtouzeau@westcongroup.com