F5 unveils VELOS upgrades for AI in service providers

F5 has announced new additions to its VELOS product line designed to enhance AI workloads for service providers and large enterprises.

The updated F5 VELOS offerings include the VELOS CX1610 6-Tbps chassis and BX520 400-Gbps blade, aimed at providing a unified and customisable solution to optimise modern applications for AI, safeguard workloads, and reduce downtime across varying application environments.

VELOS is part of the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform and is designed to simplify the deployment of expansive AI applications by integrating availability, management, and security functions.

"Making AI practical and simple for end users and practitioners is a massive undertaking, and legacy infrastructure is becoming a barrier for service providers and large enterprises seeking to implement AI-enhanced apps," said Maggie Stringfellow, VP and GM, BIG-IP, F5.

"With integrated load balancing and support for 5G workloads, VELOS optimises performance, streamlines operations, and secures applications in support of hybrid multicloud environments, enabling apps, APIs, and large language models with the services required to unlock the true potential of AI."

The VELOS CX1610 chassis and BX520 blade provide scalable throughput beneficial for supporting NEBS-compliance standards and demanding 5G Fixed Wireless Access services.

VELOS offers 6 Tbps of high-speed L4 throughput for FWA deployments, can handle 6.4 billion concurrent connections, and delivers 80 million L4 connections per second for firewall security. The system is already implemented in a production 5G network by a Tier-1 U.S. telecommunications provider.

F5 VELOS delivers a comprehensive solution with tested systems that bolster scalable and reliable performance for diverse applications.

The system's resource allocation capabilities optimise traffic flow, ensuring AI models have the required data processing power without lag. As data demands grow, VELOS facilitates efficient data processing, providing superior user experiences for AI applications.

VELOS also enhances application security through F5 solutions that counteract today's expanding threat landscape. Offloading to FPGAs enables VELOS to maintain top performance while delivering high firewall efficacy.

The approach encompasses various use cases, with features such as BIG-IP AFM for DDoS protection and advanced WAF for defending apps against pervasive threats.

Paul Nicholson, Research VP, Cloud and Datacentre Networks, IDC, commented: "Service providers and large enterprises are experiencing increased requirements from emerging AI applications, broadband subscriber traffic, and overall application demands, leading to a critical need for increased bandwidth, low latency, and advanced application networking and security capabilities."

"F5 VELOS offers a scalable, high-performance, and consolidated solution that brings together multiple services required into a single solution, such as DNS, firewall, DDoS, CGNAT, TCP, and video optimisation capabilities."

Performance and flexibility in the data centre are of strategic importance to enhanced user and emerging AI-based services, while delivering key resilience and fault tolerance to meet business objectives," he added.