NEW DELHI, INDIA: F5 Networks Inc., a provider of application delivery networking (ADN), announced the availability of a new application ready solution that provides high availability, improved performance, and scalability for the recently announced Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway (UAG) 2010.

Microsoft Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 provides a unified management interface for multiple remote access technologies including Windows Server 2008 R2 DirectAccess. The F5 application ready solution for Microsoft Forefront UAG 2010 helps enterprise customers embrace this new technology from Microsoft and scale their UAG 2010 deployments. F5 delivers application-level optimization for servers hosting these remote access technologies.

Calvin Rowland, VP, application partner programs, F5, said: “As the mobile workforce grows, so does the need for organizations to deploy highly available and scalable remote access technologies to deliver business-critical applications to those users."

F5 BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM) maximizes the availability and performance of the Forefront UAG 2010 servers. F5 iRules commands provide custom client connection handling to ensure that traffic returns from application servers to clients via the same UAG server where the original connection was established.

This solution enables multiple UAG servers to be deployed together for optimal utilization of resources, and scaling to service the required number of end-users. In addition, F5’s DevCentral portal, the only ADN online IT user community, provides a custom iRule specifically designed for Windows Server 2008 R2 Direct Access configuration. With DevCentral, customers can download free iRules, collaborate on innovative ADN solutions, and share best practices in the portal’s discussion forums.

John Chirapurath, senior director, Identity and Security Business Group, Microsoft, said: “Microsoft is pleased that F5 is committed to and has invested in the Forefront Unified Access Gateway 2010 solution to help customers realize business ready security. We anticipate strong customer demand for this solution in the coming months as customers look to unify and better secure their remote access infrastructure."