SEATTLE -- F5 Networks, Inc. (Nasdaq:FFIV), the leading provider of Internet Traffic and Content Management (iTCM) products, today announced the BIG-IP(R) 5000, the industry's first IP (Internet Protocol) Application Switch uniquely designed to manage traffic for current and next generation web services and applications. The BIG-IP 5000 combines the benefits of BIG-IP's performance-leading Layer 7 software capabilities, integrated SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) processing, and high port density (4 Gigabit and 24 Fast Ethernet ports) for scale and economy. The BIG-IP 5000 enables the network infrastructure to accommodate the increasing demands placed upon the network to support complex web applications, data/voice/video convergence, and mobile computing, with vastly simplified management and complete security. The arrival of the BIG-IP 5000 marks a new era of Internet traffic management (ITM). Offering a superior choice for enterprises and service providers building high-performance, scaleable, and profitable IP networks, the BIG-IP 5000 is the first and only port dense Internet Traffic Management solution that offers (1) integrated SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) at no extra charge to increase web server performance and ensure transaction security, (2) four times the processing power of any product in its class to deeply examine packets and intelligently direct traffic to the correct destination, (3) a centralized processing and switch fabric design for an "all-in-one" solution that reduces deployment costs and administration duties, and (4) an open API for seamless communication with all F5 products and any 3rd party application that supports F5's iControl(TM). T-Systems International GmbH, a hundred percent daughter company of Deutsche Telekom in Germany, is the second largest systems house in Europe with 37,000 employees and revenue of 10 billion Euro in 2000. T-Systems Nova, the innovation and technology center of T-Systems, tested the new F5 Networks Application Switch as the first and only test lab in Europe. In its laboratories in Darmstadt, T-Systems Nova carries out load stress and applications tests for IP-based networks. F5 Networks Inc.