Multi-cloud application services firm F5 has announced the $670m acquisition of NGINX, the popular open source application delivery platform used by more than 400 million websites worldwide.
The move will see the two offerings combine to enable multi-cloud application services across all environments, delivering ease-of-use and flexibility for developers as well as the scale, security, reliability and enterprise readiness.
Maintaining the NGINX brand, F5 said it will enhance NGINX’s offerings with its robust security solutions and integrate F5 cloud-native innovations with the open-source firm’s software load balancing technology.
F5 will also leverage its global sales force, channel infrastructure and partner ecosystem to scale NGINX selling opportunities to the enterprise, the company added.
“We believe every organisation can benefit from the agility and flexibility enabled by modern technologies without compromising on security, manageability, and reliability,” said François Locoh-Donou, president and CEO of F5.
“The combined company will enable every customer - from the app developer to the network engineer to the security specialist - with the tools they need to ensure their apps are available and secure across every platform, from the enterprise data centre to private and public clouds.”
According to TechCrunch sources, NGINX had been looking for prospective buyers for a while, with a potential purchase by Citrix said to have fallen apart due to the then-reported $700 price tag. The website’s sources also noted that F5’s growth had been stalling somewhat in recent times, fuelling the firm’s interest in purchasing the open source firm.
F5 said the acquisition now strengthens its growth trajectory by accelerating its software and multi-cloud transformation, with the combined solutions “bridging the divide” between NetOps and DevOps with consistent application services across an enterprise’s multi-cloud environment.
“NGINX and F5 share the same mission and vision,” said NGINX CEO Gus Robertson. “We both believe applications are at the heart of driving digital transformation. And we both believe that an end-to-end application infrastructure - one that spans from code to customer - is needed to deliver apps across a multi-cloud environment.
“I’m excited to continue this journey by adding the power of NGINX’s open source innovation to F5’s ADC leadership and enterprise reach. F5 gains depth with solutions designed for DevOps, while NGINX gains breadth with access to tens of thousands of customers and partners.”
Upon completion, the takeover will see Robertson and NGINX founders Igor Sysoev and Maxim Konovalov join F5 and continue to lead NGINX.
