F5 Networks Delivers Service Provider Firewall for 3G/4G

F5 Networks introduced a full-proxy network firewall for Service Providers that can be deployed as a hardware- or software-based solution.

The S/Gi firewall, which is offered with F5’s BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager, serves an important function within a mobile service provider’s network infrastructure. Sitting at the Gi interface of a 3G network and the SGi interface of a 4G network, F5’s new offering is situated on the perimeter between a service provider’s mobile network and the Internet.

F5 Networks said this placement is ideal to protect both subscribers and networks from targeted attacks—such as DDoS threats—from a variety of sources (Internet-to-mobile, Internet-to-infrastructure, mobile-to-mobile, etc.). The firewall is fully extensible and can respond to threats in real-time with F5’s programmable iRules technology.

Key performance specs include: up to 8 million connections per second, up to 576 million concurrent connections, up to 640 Gbps firewall throughput.

In addition, F5’s new BIG-IQ™ Security offering streamlines firewall policy management for multiple devices for enterprise and service provider deployments.

"As service and cloud providers update their infrastructures to better serve customers, advantages in flexibility and efficiency can have the unintended consequence of opening up new security vectors to emerging threats,” said Mark Vondemkamp, VP of Security Product Management and Marketing at F5.

http://www.f5.com/pdf/solution-profiles/high-scale-mobile-infrastructure-protection-solution-profile.pdf