SEATTLE - F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) has announced a collaboration with Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) to bolster the security and performance of artificial intelligence (AI) deployments. The joint solution integrates F5's NGINX Plus with the Intel Distribution of OpenVINO toolkit and Intel Infrastructure Processing Units (IPUs), aiming to provide advanced protection, scalability, and efficiency for AI inference applications.
The partnership addresses the growing need for secure and efficient AI inference as organizations increasingly rely on AI for intelligent applications and workflows. F5's NGINX Plus offers traffic management and security, while the OpenVINO toolkit optimizes AI model inference across various frameworks, facilitating a write-once, deploy-anywhere approach for developers.
NGINX Plus serves as a reverse proxy, managing traffic, ensuring high availability, and conducting active health checks. It also handles SSL termination and mTLS encryption, securing communications without affecting performance.
Intel's IPUs complement this by offloading infrastructure services from the central processing unit (CPU), which allows more resources to be allocated to AI model servers. This enhances the scalability and performance of both NGINX Plus and OpenVINO Model Servers (OVMS).
The solution is particularly advantageous for edge computing scenarios, such as video analytics and the Internet of Things (IoT), where low latency and high performance are essential. By leveraging Intel IPUs, NGINX Plus can deliver rapid and reliable responses, suitable for content delivery networks and microservices architectures.
Kunal Anand, Chief Technology Officer at F5, emphasized the significance of the partnership with Intel, stating that it demonstrates F5's commitment to innovation and delivering secure and scalable AI inference solutions. Pere Monclus, Chief Technology Officer of Intel's Network (LON:NETW) and Edge Group, also commented on the potential of the integrated solution to advance AI inference across various industries and workloads.
The newly announced solution is now available to enterprises, with additional insights provided in a companion blog by F5's CTO. This initiative is part of F5's broader mission to partner with leading organizations in securing applications across different environments, from on-premises to cloud and edge.
The information for this article is based on a press release statement.
In other recent news, F5 Networks (NASDAQ:FFIV) reported a Q3 revenue of $695 million, marking a 3% year-over-year growth in total software revenue. Looking forward, the company anticipates Q4 revenues to fall between $720 million and $740 million, and expects a full-year revenue of approximately $2.8 billion. This includes a mid-to-high single-digit growth in software revenue and a non-GAAP EPS growth of approximately 12%.
In response to these promising results, several analyst firms, including Needham, Piper Sandler, RBC Capital, and Evercore ISI, have raised their price targets on F5 Networks. Needham increased its target to $235, while Piper Sandler, RBC Capital, and Evercore ISI raised their targets to $186, $205, and $210 respectively.
Additionally, F5 Networks is undergoing an executive transition with CFO Frank Pelzer retiring, to be succeeded by Cooper Warner, the current Senior Vice President of Finance. The company is also making strides in the AI sector and transitioning its SaaS business to a Distributed Cloud platform. Despite anticipating a $65 million headwind due to retiring legacy products and the shift to the new platform, F5 Networks projects steady growth in FY '25, particularly in the second half due to subscription renewals. These are the recent developments at F5 Networks.
InvestingPro Insights
As F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) fortifies its position in the AI security and performance space through its collaboration with Intel, it's important for investors to consider the company's financial health and market performance. F5 Networks is currently demonstrating a strong financial foundation, underscored by its significant cash reserves in comparison to debt, as highlighted in one of the InvestingPro Tips. This positions the company well for investing in new technologies and partnerships, such as the one with Intel.
In terms of market performance, F5 Networks has been trading near its 52-week high, reflecting investor confidence and a positive market outlook. The company's share price has seen a robust return over the last three months, which aligns with another InvestingPro Tip that suggests a strong market performance in recent times. These factors could be indicative of the company's strategic moves, including partnerships and product developments, resonating well with the market.
InvestingPro Data also reveals that F5 Networks holds an attractive P/E ratio of 21.21, which is relatively low given its near-term earnings growth. This could suggest that the stock is undervalued, offering a potentially lucrative opportunity for investors. Moreover, the company's Gross Profit Margin stands at an impressive 80.01% for the last twelve months as of Q3 2024, further emphasizing its efficiency in generating profits from its revenue.
For those interested in deeper analysis and additional insights, there are 10 more InvestingPro Tips available on F5 Networks, which can be found at https://www.investing.com/pro/FFIV. These tips may provide investors with a more comprehensive understanding of the company's performance and potential investment value.
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