Strong growth for application delivery controllers in Africa

6th June 2014

By: Schalk Burger

Creamer Media Senior Deputy Editor

  

Font size: - +

Application delivery company F5 Networks foresees significant growth in the use of its application optimisation technologies in Africa as companies and telecommunications service providers try to improve user experience and protect revenue.

F5 Networks UK, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa regional VP Myles Bray says the global information technology industry is at a turning point and many companies and firms are adopting a software-defined approach to data centre virtualisation and automation, networking and application delivery to provide cloud services.

As connectivity costs decrease, more telecom-munications operators are trying to maintain revenue by offering services to clients and users over their networks, a core capability of F5.

Application performance acceleration is achieved by using an application delivery controller to actively and dynamically manage traffic based on the speed of the connection, the load on the network and the requirements of the user’s end-point device.

The combination of these factors is then used to intelligently change the traffic sent to a user to provide the speed of access which the device and connection are capable of. Changes to the traffic sent include resizing images and videos, as well as prioritising different traffic, based on the historical actions of the users.

The application delivery controllers are located within a company’s data centres and add significant and flexible intelligence to the distribution of application data to users to provide acceptable levels of speed and, thus, improve user experience.

“Product life cycles are increasingly important considerations to ensure that companies do not pay too much for technology that may be out of date within months. “Cloud services and software-defined environments also make it easier and more affordable to have access to the required scale of service without having to buy equipment that may lose its value and functionality rapidly.”

However, F5’s expertise allows for the provision of technology that can enable companies, especially large telecommunications companies and financial services firms, to accelerate the performance of older equipment and derive value from ageing assets.

“We are well placed within Africa, with the requisite knowledge and experience to enable companies to improve user experience and use their existing network capacity effectively and profitably,” concludes Bray.

Edited by Creamer Media Reporter

Comments

The content you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.

If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.

If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.

For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.

Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):

Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format

Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):

All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.

Already a subscriber?

Forgotten your password?

MAGAZINE & ONLINE

SUBSCRIBE

RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA

SUBSCRIBE

CORPORATE PACKAGES

CLICK FOR A QUOTATION