NTT DATA and F5 Networks to Cooperate on Automation of Load Balancing System Operation - F5 application delivery product to become a standard part of NTT DATA system platform building solutions -

NTT DATA Corporation (Head office: Koto-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Toru Yamashita) and F5 Networks Japan K.K. (Head office: Minato-ku, Tokyo; President and CEO: Tadao Nagasaki) are pleased to announce the adoption of F5 Networks' BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager^® (LTM), an application delivery device employing load balancing, as a standard offering in PRORIZE^®, NTT DATA's system platform building solution. The two companies have also today agreed to cooperate on joint development of functionality for automating operation of system platforms that make use of load balancing.

Incorporation of BIG-IP LTM in PRORIZE

Often when building enterprise system platforms, the network, servers, operating systems and middleware are considered as individual items, and are introduced and operated separately, making system platform operation more complex and causing costs to rise. NTT DATA developed PRORIZE as an answer to this problem. Drawing on the company's diverse knowledge involved in building system platforms, acquired through years of experience in system development projects, PRORIZE offers standard architectures and standard selections of vendor products, as solutions consisting of preconfigured and pretested combinations of products that are chosen based on the technologies adopted.
Taking advantage of a strong network of vendor alliances to resolve interworking issues between vendor products, high-quality system platforms are developed and total support is provided throughout the system life cycle, from development to operation and maintenance.
The F5 product BIG-IP LTM will now become a standard part of PRORIZE. The BIG-IP LTM stands out from the competition with such features as its iRule functionality, which enables diverse traffic control to match customer needs, earning it the top market share worldwide among application delivery devices.

Development of Functionality for Automating System Operation

NTT DATA and F5 Networks will develop a function for the BIG-IP LTM that automates system operation, with the aim of completing it by the end of this year, so that the high-quality system platforms built in a short time using PRORIZE can be operated more easily.
The F5 BIG-IP LTM is equipped with an interface (iControl API) for executing traffic control, performance statistics acquisition and other such operations from outside the device, which is necessary in system operation such as adding servers or performing server maintenance. The jointly developed automation function will make use of this iControl API to realize automatic control of the BIG-IP LTM by a PRORIZE system management module.
This function will automate control of traffic to a server during maintenance, for example, as well as other operations that the system administrator up to now has had to perform manually. Besides eliminating operator error, it will reduce the burden on system administrators and lower operation costs.

Highlights of the Collaboration

The collaboration between the two companies will involve mainly the following.

1. Development of functionality for linking a PRORIZE computer administration server to the BIG-IP LTM
   The two firms will jointly develop a dedicated function for linking the BIG-IP LTM and a PRORIZE computer administration server (such as Hinemos, an integrated administration tool developed by NTT DATA). This will make possible automated operation of Web systems built using PRORIZE, helping to ease the burden on system administrators and reduce operation costs.
   F5 Networks, by making available its expertise and testing environment, will cooperate in verifying the newly expanded PRORIZE model. The company will also cooperate in new iControl API development for meeting the diverse system operations monitoring needs that arise from PRORIZE expansion.
   NTT DATA will work on incorporating the newly developed functions as an integral part of PRORIZE and on taking advantage of these functions. Standardizing the jointly developed functionality as part of PRORIZE will lower costs while making it easier to automate system operation.
2. Establishment of a dedicated alliance framework
   The two companies will establish a dedicated alliance network to go along with their collaboration efforts, creating a support structure that will let customers continue to use the solutions with assurance after installation and start of operations.

Looking Ahead

Through this collaboration NTT DATA and F5 Networks, in addition to offering the functionality for realizing low-cost, high-quality system platform operation, plan to build up support services that provide customers peace of mind. The two companies will also carry out on-going efforts to bring added value to PRORIZE by incorporating the latest system platform technologies, such as a server virtualization environment and mixed IPv4/IPv6 environment.
NTT DATA is building an alliance network with companies whose products are adopted in PRORIZE solutions. The collaboration with F5 is part of this effort, and the alliances will continue to be strengthened going forward.
In addition to PRORIZE, NTT DATA offers Prossione^® and PORTOMICS^® as system platforms. The company plans to continue applying these three solutions to systems as appropriate, aiming for annual sales of 10 billion yen in three years.

About F5 Networks

Headquartered in Seattle, Washington, F5 Networks is the global leader in the field of Application Delivery Networking (AND). F5 provides solutions that make all applications running on a network secure, fast, and stable. By adding intelligence and manageability into the network and reducing the application load, applications are made faster while keeping down resource use. F5's extensible architecture intelligently integrates application optimization, protects the application and the network, and delivers application reliability, all on a single standard platform. Over 16,000 corporations and service providers worldwide trust F5 to enhance the availability of their applications.
Go to http://www.f5.com for further details about the company.
F5 Networks Japan K.K., since its founding in 2000, has through its business partners carried out sales, support, consulting, training and other services on the Japanese market. More than 3,000 client companies in Japan make use of the application delivery networking solutions provided by F5 Networks.
Visit http://www.f5networks.co.jp for more about F5 Networks Japan.

* PRORIZE^® is a registered trademark of NTT DATA Corporation.
* Prossione^® is a registered trademark of NTT DATA Corporation.
* PORTOMICS^® is a registered trademark of NTT DATA Corporation.

Forward-looking statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements regarding the outlook for the future and sales and earnings targets. These statements are all beliefs about the future and are not statements of historical facts. Be aware that these beliefs about the future are subject to known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, which may cause actual results including company performance or industry trends to differ from what is expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements. For detailed information about the risk factors that can affect business and performance, refer to Annual Reports or to public filings with the SEC.