F5 Selects Poland for Major EMEA-wide Customer Service, Security and Product Development Investment

WARSAW, POLAND, SEPTEMBER 16, 2015 – F5 Networks(NASDAQ: FFIV) today announced Poland as the location for a major customer service, security and product development facility. In support of F5’s global business efforts, this investment allows expanded and enhanced time zone coverage, along with customer service and disaster recovery capacity. Poland was chosen in part due to its strategic geographic location and its strong pool of world-class, multi-lingual IT talent.

Based in Warsaw’s Mokotów district, the F5 Technical Center Warsaw is likely to spur high profile jobs in the area, and features a Technical Services department and a Product Development arm. It will also feature F5’s second Security Operations Center (SOC), which will complement  its existing facility in Seattle and monitor global multi-layer attack activities in real-time. It is one of the few such facilities in both Poland and Europe as a whole. Both the Technical Services and the SOC function have already been operating for several months after a soft launch.

"We welcome F5 in the capital of the European economic leader. In the country, which similarly to F5, aims to stand out from its competition," said Sławomir Majman, president of the Polish Information and Foreign Investment Agency.

"Poland is well known for its ability to create a secure and creative environment for business development. Therefore, we are successful in attracting innovative technology companies with global reach. From now on, innovative F5 solutions will be backed by Polish IT specialists. It’s thanks to their unique abilities, which they have gained on Polish technical universities, that the Polish IT sector is a breeding ground for advanced IT solutions. From this day F5 will be a part of the fastest growing economy in the European Union.”

According to Research and Markets, the Polish IT sector is on course to grow at a CAGR of 5.59 per cent up until 20181. Analysts at McKinsey also concluded that one of the country’s richest sources of growth for advanced business services is likely to come from this field2.

“We expect the SOC and support center in Warsaw to have a significant impact in the EMEA region and beyond,” said Julian Eames, Executive Vice President of Business Operations at F5. “It’s an application-driven world, and customers increasingly call for powerful, flexible, and innovative solutions capable of meeting today's most pressing challenges around cloud enablement, security, mobility, networks and applications."

Security Operations Center

The Security Operations Center (SOC) in Warsaw will expand F5’s global coverage supporting customers that are taking advantage of F5’s cloud-based application services. Through the company’s Silverline® offerings, customers gain 24/7 access to highly specialized F5 security experts who monitor global multi layer attack activities in real-time.

One of the few facilities of its kind in Europe, the SOC will comprise a team of researchers and analysts that investigate new attacks throughout the world, and maintain up-to-date information on the latest malware, zero-day, and phishing attacks targeting global enterprises. The SOC will initially employ 15 people—with further expansion expected in the near future. The first  service to be delivered will be anti-fraud  (F5® WebSafe™) followed by volumetric DDoS protection by the end of the year.

Product Development

With new product development resources located in Poland, F5 will augment overall output and provide backup for EMEA teams. Personnel at the location will include manual and automated test development and execution, as well as test infrastructure development.

“In addition to the SOC, we are excited to expand our worldwide product development organization by adding staff in Warsaw,” added Eames. “Our Silverline offerings help customers more easily combine cloud, on-premises, and hybrid resources through the F5 Synthesis™ architecture. Investments like this new facility signal F5’s commitment to the evolving ways customers are deploying application services through physical, virtual, and as-a-service solutions.”

Technical Services

The addition of a new Technical Services department in EMEA will contribute to F5’s rapid-response customer service capabilities and aims to add a number of new technical engineering positions over the next three years. The team will provide a comprehensive portfolio of solutions to help clients architect, implement, maintain, and optimize IT infrastructures, complementing F5’s existing 80-strong team in Chertsey, United Kingdom.

1http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reports/2912813/it-market-in-poland-2014-2018

2http://www.mckinsey.com/locations/warsaw/publications/Poland%202025_full_report.pdf

About F5

F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) makes apps go faster, smarter, and safer for the world’s largest businesses, service providers, governments, and consumer brands. F5 delivers cloud and security solutions that enable organizations to embrace the application infrastructure they choose without sacrificing speed and control. For more information, go to f5.com. You can also follow @f5networks on Twitter or visit us on LinkedIn and Facebook for more information about F5, its partners, and technologies.

F5 is a trademark or service mark of F5 Networks, Inc., in the U.S. and other countries. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

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