F5 Advances AI Application Delivery with NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs for Enhanced Security and Performance

F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) has launched BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes, a cutting-edge AI application delivery and security solution aimed at improving data traffic management and security for large enterprises and service providers. By combining F5’s new intelligent proxy with NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs, this solution aims to enhance AI workload efficiency, offering a centralized control point for data flows across expansive AI infrastructures.

This collaboration leverages NVIDIA’s BlueField-3 DPUs to optimize data center operations crucial for AI scalability, integrating network, traffic, and security management to maximize resource efficiency. Customers can achieve faster AI application performance, improve data center utilization, and deliver a better AI-driven experience with more responsive AI inference.

According to Pratik Shah, Managing Director of F5 India & SAARC, this partnership with NVIDIA provides service providers and large-scale infrastructures the tools necessary to manage complex AI environments efficiently. “Our collaboration enables businesses to unlock new performance levels with greater control and security,” said Shah.

Key Benefits of F5 BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes with BlueField-3 DPUs:
– AI Service Delivery at Cloud Scale: Reduces latency and provides high-performance load balancing for vast data demands in AI models.
– Enhanced AI Deployment Control: Offers rich observability and multi-protocol support, improving data flow at very high speeds.
– AI Security: Automates AI endpoint discovery and protects data integrity, bolstering defenses against targeted threats.

The combined F5 and NVIDIA technologies enable both mobile and fixed-line service providers to move seamlessly to cloud-native infrastructure, addressing the need for cloud-native network functions (CNFs). By offloading data-intensive tasks to BlueField-3 DPUs, BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes frees up CPU resources for other critical applications, with particular advantages for virtualized RAN (vRAN) and core 5G networks.

BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes on NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs will be available in November. Further insights can be found on the F5 blog.