F5, Inc. is an American technology company specializing in
application security
Application security (short AppSec) includes all tasks that introduce a secure software development life cycle to development teams. Its final goal is to improve security practices and, through that, to find, fix and preferably prevent security is ...
, multi-cloud management, online fraud prevention,
application delivery networking (ADN), application availability and performance, and
network security, access, and authorization.
F5 originally offered
application delivery controller (ADC) technology, but has since expanded into
application layer
An application layer is an abstraction layer that specifies the shared communication protocols and interface methods used by hosts in a communications network. An ''application layer'' abstraction is specified in both the Internet Protocol Su ...
, automation, multi-cloud, and security services. As
ransomware
Ransomware is a type of malware that Encryption, encrypts the victim's personal data until a ransom is paid. Difficult-to-trace Digital currency, digital currencies such as paysafecard or Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, cryptocurrencies are com ...
,
data leaks,
DDoS
In computing, a denial-of-service attack (DoS attack) is a cyberattack in which the perpetrator seeks to make a machine or network resource unavailable to its intended users by temporarily or indefinitely disrupting services of a host co ...
, and other attacks on businesses of all sizes are arising, companies such as F5 have continued to reinvent themselves.
Hall of Fame
Every 10 years, F5 Networks honors a global figure who has made significant contributions to the world. In 2025, Camilo Mussi, Chief Information Officer (CIO) of Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA), was recognized for his extraordinary achievements, becoming the first Brazilian inducted into the F5 Hall of Fame. His leadership in technology and innovation initiatives at MAPA has significantly contributed to the modernization of Brazil's agricultural sector.
F5 is headquartered in
Seattle, Washington
Seattle ( ) is the List of municipalities in Washington, most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington (state), Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the List of Unit ...
in
F5 Tower, with an additional 75 offices
in 43 countries
focusing on account management, global services support, product development, manufacturing, software engineering, and administrative jobs. Notable office locations include
Spokane, Washington
Spokane ( ) is the most populous city in eastern Washington and the county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It lies along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south o ...
;
New York, New York
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...
;
Boulder, Colorado
Boulder is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Home rule municipality, home rule city in Boulder County, Colorado, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 108,250 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the most ...
;
London, England
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
;
San Jose, California
San Jose, officially the City of San José ( ; ), is a cultural, commercial, and political center within Silicon Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area. With a city population of 997,368 and a metropolitan area population of 1.95 million, it is ...
; and
San Francisco, California
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
.
While the majority of F5's revenue continues to be attributed to its hardware products, such as the BIG-IP iSeries systems, the company has begun to offer additional modules on its proprietary operating system, TMOS (Traffic Management Operating System). These modules include Local Traffic Manager (LTM), Advanced Web Application Firewall (AWAF), DNS (previously named GTM), and Access Policy Manager (APM). These offer organizations that run BIG-IP systems the ability to deploy load balancing,
Layer 7 application firewalls,
single sign-on (for
Azure AD,
Active Directory
Active Directory (AD) is a directory service developed by Microsoft for Windows domain networks. Windows Server operating systems include it as a set of processes and services. Originally, only centralized domain management used Active Direct ...
,
LDAP
The Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAP ) is an open, vendor-neutral, industry standard application protocol for accessing and maintaining distributed Directory service, directory information services over an Internet Protocol (IP) networ ...
, and
Okta
In meteorology, an okta is a scale of measurement used to describe the amount of cloud cover at any given location such as a weather station. Sky conditions are estimated in terms of how many eighths of the sky are covered in cloud, ranging fro ...
), as well as enterprise-level
VPNs
Virtual private network (VPN) is a network architecture for virtually extending a private network (i.e. any computer network which is not the public Internet) across one or multiple other networks which are either untrusted (as they are not con ...
. While the BIG-IP was traditionally a hardware product, F5 now offers it as a
virtual machine
In computing, a virtual machine (VM) is the virtualization or emulator, emulation of a computer system. Virtual machines are based on computer architectures and provide the functionality of a physical computer. Their implementations may involve ...
, which it has branded as the BIG-IP Virtual Edition. The BIG-IP Virtual Edition is cloud-agnostic and can be deployed
on-premises in a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
and/or
hybrid cloud
Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to ISO.
Essential characteristics ...
environment.
Corporate history
F5, Inc., originally named "F5 Labs" and formerly branded "F5 Networks, Inc." was established in 1996.
Currently, the company's public-facing branding generally presents the company as just "F5." The company's name is a reference to the highest intensity tornado on the
Fujita scale
The Fujita scale (F-Scale; ), or Fujita–Pearson scale (FPP scale), is a scale for rating tornado intensity, based primarily on the damage tornadoes inflict on human-built structures and vegetation. The official Fujita scale category is determ ...
.
In 1997, F5 launched its first product, a load balancer called
BIG-IP. BIG-IP served the purpose of reallocating server traffic away from overloaded servers. In June 1999, the company had its
initial public offering
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...
and was listed on the
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
stock exchange with the symbol FFIV.
In 2017,
François Locoh-Donou replaced
John McAdam as president and CEO. Later in 2017, F5 launched a dedicated site and organization focused on gathering global threat intelligence data, analyzing application threats, and publishing related findings, dubbed "F5 Labs" in a nod to the company's history. The team continues to research application threats and publish findings every week. On May 3, 2017, F5 announced that it would move from its longtime headquarters on the waterfront near Seattle Center to a downtown Seattle skyscraper that would be called
F5 Tower. The move occurred in early 2019.
F5 employees include
Dahl-Nygaard laureate
Gilad Bracha
Gilad Bracha (Hebrew: גלעד ברכה) is a software engineer at F5, and formerly at Google, where he was on the Dart programming language team. He is creator of the Newspeak language, and co-author of the second and third editions of the Java ...
,
Google
Google LLC (, ) is an American multinational corporation and technology company focusing on online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial ...
click fraud czar
Shuman Ghosemajumder, and
Defense.Net founder
Barrett Lyon.
48 of the Fortune 50 companies use F5 for
load balancing,
Layer 7 application security, fraud prevention, and
API
An application programming interface (API) is a connection between computers or between computer programs. It is a type of software interface, offering a service to other pieces of software. A document or standard that describes how to build ...
management.
Product offerings
F5 BIG-IP
F5's BIG-IP product family comprises hardware, modularized software, and
virtual appliance
A virtual appliance is a pre-configured virtual machine image, ready to run on a hypervisor; virtual appliances are a subset of the broader class of software appliances. Installation of a software appliance on a virtual machine and packaging that ...
s that run the F5 TMOS operating system.
Depending on the appliance selected, one or more BIG-IP product modules can be added.
In 1997, the company introduced its flagship product, BIG-IP.
BIG-IP history
On September 7, 2004, F5 Networks released version 9.0 of the BIG-IP software in addition to appliances to run the software. Version 9.0 also marked the introduction of the company's TMOS architecture, with enhancements including:
* The move from
BSD
The Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), also known as Berkeley Unix or BSD Unix, is a discontinued Unix operating system developed and distributed by the Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG) at the University of California, Berkeley, beginni ...
to
Linux
Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
to handle system management functions (disks, logging, bootup, console access, etc.)
* The creation of a Traffic Management Microkernel (TMM) to directly talk to the networking hardware and handle all network activities.
F5 NGINX
Since the NGINX, Inc. acquisition in 2019, F5 has offered a premium, enterprise-level version of
NGINX
(pronounced "engine x" , stylized as NGINX or nginx) is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. The software was created by Russian developer Igor Sysoev and publicly released in 20 ...
with advanced features, multiple support
SLAs, and regular software updates.
F5 Distributed Cloud Services
During F5 Agility 2022, F5 announced a new product offering being built on the platforms of BIG-IP, Shape Security, and Volterra. The primary offering in this suite is the SaaS-based web application and API protection (WAAP). F5 Distributed Cloud Services enable organizations to deploy, secure, and manage their applications across various environments, including data centers, multi-cloud setups, and the network or enterprise edge.
Acquisitions
uRoam, Inc.
F5 acquired uRoam, Inc. in 2003 for a total cash deal size of $25 million. The strategic intent behind F5 Networks' acquisition of uRoam was to diversify its product offerings beyond its core application delivery and security services. This move aimed to address the growing demand for secure remote access to corporate networks and applications, aligning with industry trends.
MagniFire Websystems, Inc.
F5 acquired MagniFire Websystems in 2004 for a total cash deal size of $29 million. This acquisition allowed F5 to enter the web application security space within the BIG-IP platform. MagniFire Websystems products were sold independently when the deal first closed, then were quickly bundled into the BIG-IP product group.
Swan Labs Corporation
In September 2005, F5 announced they had acquired Swan Labs for a total of $43 million to incorporate WAN optimization and application acceleration technology into the BIG-IP platform, specifically to improve their load balancing offering.
Traffix Systems, Inc.
In 2005, F5 Networks, Inc. at the time, now F5, Inc., announced it has acquired Traffix Systems for a total value of $135 million. Traffix Systems product was integrated within the F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) product line.
Acopia Networks, Inc.
In August 2007, F5, Inc., at the time, F5 Networks, Inc., announced they acquired Acopia Networks, Inc. to add file-area networking to the F5 BIG-IP application-delivery product line, also known as the Local Traffic Manager (LTM) module on the BIG-IP platforms.
The deal was valued at $210 million.
LineRate Systems, Inc.
In February 2013, F5 Networks acquired LineRate Systems, a developer of software-defined networking (SDN) services, to enhance its application-layer intelligence within software-defined data centers. This acquisition provided F5 with access to LineRate's layer 7+ networking services technology, intellectual property, and engineering talent. The company says that the integration of LineRate's programmable network capabilities bolstered F5's efforts to extend its market leadership in SDN services.
Defense.Net, Inc.
In May 2014, F5, Inc. (then F5 Networks, Inc.) announced it had acquired Defense.Net, Inc., a company offering cloud-based DDoS mitigation services. The Defense.Net product would later become F5 Silverline. As of December 2022, the Silverline brand was retired, and the managed service offerings Silverline offered were merged into the F5 Distributed Cloud Services product portfolio.
NGINX, Inc.
In March 2019, F5 acquired
NGINX, Inc., a company responsible for widely used open-source web server software, for $670 million.
On 18 January 2022, original NGINX developer
Igor Sysoev left F5, Inc. Later on, forks mantaining open source licenses such as Angie and freenginx started being developed. Igor Sysoev is not actively involved in this project.
Shape Security, Inc.
In January 2020, F5 acquired Shape Security, Inc., an
AI-based bot detection company, for $1 billion. F5 Networks then used the acquisition to introduce a new fraud detection engine.
Volterra, Inc.
In January 2021, F5 acquired Volterra, Inc., an edge networking company that sells SaaS security services, for $500 million. The previously Volterra-branded products were incorporated into F5 Distributed Cloud Services, as of 2022.
Threat Stack, Inc.
In October 2021, F5 acquired Threat Stack, Inc., a
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
cloud computing
Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...
security
startup company
A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an Entrepreneurship, entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses tha ...
for a reported $68 million. As of December 15, 2022, the previous Threat Stack offering has been rolled into the F5 Distributed Cloud platform.
Lilac Cloud, Inc.
In January 2023, F5 announced it had entered into an agreement to purchase Lilac Cloud, an application services delivery provider. Lilac Cloud, based in
Cupertino,
California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, was F5's
CDN provider for its Distributed Cloud Services. The entire Lilac Cloud offering will be rolled into the overall F5 Distributed Cloud Services product line.
Suborbital Software Systems, Inc.
In July 2023, Suborbital Software Systems, Inc., a technology startup that aimed to build cloud-native platforms on
WebAssembly
WebAssembly (Wasm) defines a portable binary-code format and a corresponding text format for executable programs as well as software interfaces for facilitating communication between such programs and their host environment.
The main goal of ...
, announced it had been acquired by F5, Inc. The details of this acquisition were not disclosed due to the small nature of Suborbital's operations. The entire Suborbital product will be used within the F5 Distributed Cloud Services product line.
Wib Security, Inc.
In February 2024 at
AppWorld, F5's application security and delivery conference in San Jose, California, F5 announced it had acquired Wib: an API security company based in
Tel Aviv, Israel
Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...
, focused on vulnerability detection and observability in application development. The financial details of the Wib acquisition were not disclosed. As of February 2024, F5 was adding the Wib API intellectual property to the F5 Distributed Cloud Services product line.
Heyhack
In March 2024, F5 announced it had acquired Heyhack ApS, a Denmark-based and operated security penetration SaaS company. The financial details of this acquisition were not disclosed. F5 announced Heyhack's intellectual propertysuch as its automated security reconnaissance and penetration testing solutionwould be rolled into the F5 Distributed Cloud Services platform.
LeakSignal
In March 2025, F5, Inc. acquired LeakSignal, a cybersecurity company specializing in real-time data protection and governance for AI applications. The acquisition aimed to enhance the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform (ADSP) with capabilities such as AI-driven data classification, policy enforcement, and compliance monitoring. LeakSignal had been recognized by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for its innovations in securing data in transit, and its integration into F5’s portfolio supports the growing need for data protection in generative AI and multicloud environments.
References
External links
{{authority control, state=expanded
1999 initial public offerings
Computer companies of the United States
Computer hardware companies
American companies established in 1996
Software companies established in 1996
Companies listed on the Nasdaq
Computer security companies
DDoS mitigation companies
Deep packet inspection
Networking companies of the United States
Networking hardware companies
Networking software companies
Software companies based in Seattle
1996 establishments in Washington (state)
Software companies of the United States