F5 Brings Developers, Customers Together

The vendor's iControl Solution Developer Program is targeted at VARs, systems integrators and developers that build customized applications and consulting services around F5's iControl API for its Big-IP and 3-DNS application switches.

"It's going to help cultivate a worldwide community of developers that can add incremental value for F5 customers," said Jeff Browning, product manager at F5, Seattle. "These are organizations that are typically good at development but not the best when it comes to promoting their applications."

Through the program, F5 plans to create a solutions catalog that highlights applications from its development partners, making it easier for F5's other channel partners and its direct-sales force to sell them, he said.

The program promises benefits such as marketing templates for presentations and press releases; online marketing outlet access, such as the F5 Web site; discounted pricing on development and testing products; and technical resource access. Program members also said they hope to foster relationships, opening sales opportunities in geographies outside their current reach.

"The idea is to possibly bridge the Atlantic with the program and say, 'We have a good partner overseas with no delivery in the U.S., and over here we have a good partner in the U.S. with no delivery overseas,' " said Steve Giovannetti, CTO of SSI hubcity, a solution provider and application developer in Metuchen, N.J., that has joined the program.

SSI hubcity has created a solution that enables J2EE-based application server environments to communicate with F5's application switches to control load balancing. "It allows the application to reduce traffic on itself or take itself out of the pool," Giovannetti said.

Another program member, solution provider Corporate Technologies, is building a solution that enables an application to trigger a device to be taken offline for patch management only after all users have logged off, which minimizes disruption to users during routine maintenance, said Kurt Rosenfeld, vice president of the software and data integration practice at the Burlington, Mass.-based company.

The new program should help F5's traditional network integration partners by providing easy access to development talent, said Mark Thompson, vice president of business development at Milestone Systems, St. Louis Park, Minn.

Milestone typically has to recruit costly temporary employees to work on projects that require custom applications since it does not keep developers on staff, Thompson said.

Developers can sign up for the program at no charge on F5's Web site.