Exhibit 99.1
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
|
|
|
| CONTACTS: |
|
Alane Moran
Public Relations
206/272-6850
a.moran@f5.com |
John Eldridge
Investor Relations
206/272-6571
j.eldridge@f5.com
F5 Networks to Acquire Swan Labs, Best-of-Breed WAN Optimization and Application Acceleration Company
Union of Swan Labs and F5 is expected to provide the industry’s most comprehensive and integrated application delivery network for superior application performance, security and availability across the LAN and WAN
SEATTLE, SEPTEMBER 6, 2005 — F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the leading provider of
Application Traffic Management products, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement
to acquire Swan Labs Corporation, a technology leader in the WAN (Wide Area Network) optimization
and application acceleration market. The $43 million cash transaction for 100% of the equity of
Swan Labs was signed on September 6, 2005 and, subject to customary closing conditions, including
acceptance of employment with F5 Networks by certain employees of Swan Labs, is expected to close
in the first quarter of F5 Networks’ 2006 fiscal year. Swan Labs is recognized as a visionary in
Gartner’s latest Magic Quadrant for Web-Enabled Application Delivery, 2H04.
Swan Labs’ WAN optimization and application acceleration technologies extend F5’s market
leading Application Traffic Management product portfolio. Upon integration, Swan Labs and F5
products together will provide a uniquely powerful enterprise-class solution that is expected to
create the only integrated application delivery network to ensure superior performance, security,
and availability for all applications – across the WAN and within the LAN.
“The opportunity to acquire such powerful solutions that nicely round out F5’s optimization
portfolio was extremely attractive,” said John McAdam, President and CEO of F5 Networks. “The
acquisition will accelerate the execution of our strategy to deliver application
acceleration and WAN optimization for all applications and users. A distinct competitive advantage
for us is F5’s advanced Traffic Management Operating System that creates a shared
application and
network services framework that will enable Swan Labs’ solution to integrate well into F5’s
architecture. No other vendor in the market has this powerful capability.”
Upon completion of this acquisition, F5 not only will have access to superior branch
office-based and application-specific optimizations through Swan Labs’ WANJet solution, but will
also gain access to very advanced web application optimization technology in Swan Labs’
WebAccelerator solution. When combined, Swan Labs’ and F5’s solutions will offer an integrated
framework that extends application and network security, acceleration and availability to remote,
branch, public and private users – regardless of where they are coming from.
“The marriage of F5 and Swan Labs is a natural fit and will be an exciting and productive move
for the industry and customers,” said Andrew Foss, CEO of Swan Labs. “F5 and Swan Labs have a
parallel strategy of a shared services architecture and our combined solutions will offer
enterprises the most advanced and integrated application delivery network.”
Further details about the Swan Labs acquisition will be discussed in a conference call
tomorrow, September 7, 2005, at 8:00 a.m. E.T. Call-in numbers: 1-888-552-9191 (US and Canada) and
+1-773-756-4632 (international); conference ID: F5 NETWORKS. To listen to the webcast, go to
http://www.f5.com/f5/ir/calendar.html and click on the webcast image. A slide presentation designed
to accompany the discussion of the Swan Labs acquisition is available for public viewing
http://www.f5.com/swanlabs/announcement/ until the end of the month. A replay of the webcast will
also be available at www.f5.com. F5 Networks intends to file with the SEC prior to the webcast a
Form 8-K that contains additional information concerning the proposed merger. Investors of F5
Networks are encouraged to read such filings and other related SEC filings by F5 when they become
available.
About F5 Networks
F5 enables organizations to successfully deliver business-critical applications and gives them the
greatest level of agility to stay ahead of growing business demands. As the pioneer and global
leader in Application Traffic Management, F5 continues to lead the industry by driving more
intelligence into the network to deliver advanced application agility. F5 products ensure the
secure and optimized delivery of applications to any user – anywhere. Through its flexible and
cohesive architecture, F5 delivers unmatched value by dramatically improving the way organizations
serve their employees, customers and constituents, while lowering operational costs. The company is
headquartered in Seattle, Washington with offices worldwide. For more information go to www.f5.com.
All brands, names, or trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective
owners.
This press release may contain forward looking statements relating to future events or future
financial performance that involve risks and uncertainties. Such statements can be identified by
terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,”
“estimates,” “predicts”, “potential” or “continue” or the negative of such terms or comparable
terms. These statements are only predictions and actual results could differ materially from those
anticipated in these statements based upon a number of factors including those identified in the
Company’s filings with the SEC.
# # #