A10 is targeting containers with its A10 Ingress Controller for Kubernetes, providing load-balancing and analytics for cloud-native apps.

The A10 Networks Inc. Ingress Controller is designed to make it easy for application teams building microservices and container-based applications to provide load balancing and comprehensive application visibility and analytics. The software's containerized load balancer, A10 Lightning ADC, scales up and down automatically with the Kubernetes cluster, the company said.

The software collects application metrics to allow operations teams to troubleshoot faster, manage capacity planning and detect performance and security anomalies. Analytics data is displayed on the A10 Harmony portal, or through APIs to other orchestration software, A10 says.

Figure 1: A10's Kamal Anand

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The software can run anywhere Kubernetes is deployed, including public clouds such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Compute Engine, as well as private clouds running VMware and bare metal infrastructure.

F5 Networks Inc. (Nasdaq: FFIV) is the big kahuna in the application delivery controller market, leading the market. A10, which was a finalist in the 2018 Leading Lights awards for Most Innovative Security Strategy, claims better analytics, as well as security services such as SSL and DDOS protection. (See Leading Lights 2018 Finalists: Most Innovative Security Strategy.)

Another A10 competitor, Avi Networks , recently scored $60 million funding in a Series D round that included Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO). (See Cisco Cracks Wallet, Joins $60M Avi Funding.)

A10's 2016 acquisition of Appcito gives it a product line competing with Avi, Kamal Anand, VP of Cloud at A10 Networks, tells Light Reading. Anand was formerly CEO of Appcito, which added support for cloud-native applications and containers to A10's previous line of application delivery controller hardware and software appliances for traditional applications. (See A10 Discloses $6.5M Appcito Purchase Price and A10 Buys Appcito for Hybrid Cloud Muscle.)

"The market is largely traditional applications, but more and more folks are building microservices applications built into containers. Having a container load balancer that understands Docker and provides container integration gives us an advantage," Anand says.

A10's customers are primarily service providers and cable operators, as well as high-end application specialists focused on the likes of gaming and social media. The company has more recently been pursuing customers in the Fortune 500, which has been dominated by F5. These markets require management tools, elasticity and ease of use, Anand says. "Just going in and saying 'I have better speeds and feeds' doesn't do it," he says.

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— Mitch Wagner Executive Editor, Light Reading