1 billion teleworkers prompt F5 Networks rethink

Beverley Head
Wednesday, 03 February 2010 17:52

Business IT - Security

Predicting that there will be 1 billion mobile workers by 2011, applications networking delivery company F5 Networks has launched a clutch of products targeted at allowing secure, fast and reliable remote access to corporate networks and information.

Tackling remote access and security is a growing issue for enterprise CIOs who are increasingly expected to make corporate information accessible and secure far beyond an organisation's physical boundaries.

F5 Networks today unveiled its Big-IP product suite aimed at providing the same level of security and application usability for teleworkers that might be expected if its remote users worked in head office. Being able to provide robust remote access is increasingly important as according to the managing director of F5 Networks in ANZ, Kurt Hansen as 'We are predicting 1 billion mobile workers by 2011.'

The company is also predicting an increasing incidence of attacks on web services offered by major organisations.

According to F5 Networks although enterprises spend 75 per cent of their security budgets in their networks, an increasing proportion of attacks on corporate data are coming from outside that network. According to Hansen, around three quarters of all attacks were now made against web services and involved web scrapers.

'We have created a solution for a major airline here and in New Zealand where companies were taking its data to repurpose it for comparison. You put this data out there for the customers - not for your competitors to rip you off,' said Hansen.

In Australia the company targets the top 1000 enterprises. It has sold into three of the top four banks, Macquarie Bank, St George Bank, the ATO and a swag of universities. Its entry level solution is available for around $50,000 according to Hansen.