F5 Cloud Services aims ADC features at DevOps

F5 Networks has launched a SaaS product that will eventually offer load balancing and some security features to developers building applications for cloud computing environments. Launched this week, F5 Cloud Services initially will provide server load balancing for domain name systems (DNS). By the end of June, F5 will add some web application security features.Cloud Services offers a subset of the load balancing and security features available in F5's Big IP application delivery controller (ADC). F5 is aiming Cloud Services at DevOps teams that blend application development with IT operations. "These, as service offerings, are first and foremost optimized for cloud-native teams," said Craig Kitterman, senior director of product management for Cloud Services at F5. "By that, I mean application developers and DevOps teams." F5's interest in modernizing its legacy ADC technology for cloud application developers was behind the vendor's plans to acquire NGINX, which provides ADC services for cloud applications. F5 expects to close the deal in the second quarter.