F5, INC. (FFIV)

F5 is a multicloud application delivery and security provider that helps organizations optimize and secure applications and APIs on-premises, in the cloud, and at the network edge. It sells packaged software under perpetual, subscription, and usage-based models, as well as software-as-a-service and managed services, high-performance hardware systems, and global services including maintenance, consulting, training, and technical support. The company was incorporated in 1996 and is headquartered in Seattle, Washington. In October 2025 it disclosed a security incident in which a threat actor maintained persistent access to its systems and exfiltrated certain files.

Its portfolio is organized into three product families. F5 BIG-IP serves legacy and traditional applications, with packaged software for security (access policy, web application firewall, SSL orchestration, DDoS defense, carrier-grade NAT), application delivery (local traffic management, DNS, policy enforcement), automation tools, BIG-IQ centralized management, and BIG-IP hardware systems (rSeries and VELOS) that combine custom FPGA logic with off-the-shelf silicon. F5 NGINX, built on open-source NGINX software, targets modern, container-native, microservices-based applications with NGINX Plus, the NGINX One Console, the NGINX Ingress Controller, and F5 WAF for NGINX. F5 Distributed Cloud Services is a SaaS and managed services portfolio covering web app and API protection, DDoS mitigation, bot defense, multicloud networking, DNS, CDN, and a managed Kubernetes application platform, delivered over the F5 Global Network. In 2025 F5 introduced the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform to unify these capabilities, and it applies AI in its products and to AI-related use cases such as AI data delivery, runtime security, and load balancing. In September 2025 it acquired CalypsoAI to strengthen AI inference security.

Its customers include large enterprises, public sector institutions, governments, and service providers. F5 operates globally and manages its business through three geographic regions: Americas; Europe, the Middle East, and Africa; and Asia Pacific. Hardware is sold primarily through distributors, value-added resellers, and end users.

F5 outsources hardware manufacturing to partners, primarily Flex Ltd., which handles assembly, testing, material procurement, and fulfillment at facilities in Guadalajara, Mexico and Zhuhai, China, with a fulfillment center in Memphis, Tennessee. Competitors include Citrix and Broadcom for BIG-IP; AWS, Google Cloud Platform, Envoy, and HAProxy for NGINX; and Akamai, Cisco, Cloudflare, Fortinet, Juniper Networks, Palo Alto, Radware, Thales (Imperva), Fastly, and Aviatrix across security and Distributed Cloud. As of September 30, 2025, F5 had 6,578 employees in 47 countries.