SEATTLE, NOVEMBER 18, 2002—F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: FFIV), the leading provider of Application Traffic Management products, today announced that it ranked number 16 on the 2002 Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500, a ranking of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in North America. Rankings are based on percentage revenue growth over five years, from 1997-2001. F5 grew 46,785 percent during this period. “We are very honored to be recognized by Deloitte & Touche in the highly competitive technology sector,” said John McAdam, president and CEO, F5 Networks. “F5’s success and steady growth is really a result of our company’s ability to stay focused on solving customers’ real business problems while effectively increasing the ROI of their network infrastructure investments. This capability becomes even more important in a tough economy.” “With its ranking on the prestigious Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500, F5’s leaders have proven that they have the vision and the fortitude to excel in the highly competitive technology industry,” said Mark A. Evans, managing director of Deloitte & Touche’s Technology, Media & Telecommunications Group. “We congratulate F5 on becoming one of the 500 fastest growing technology companies in the United States and Canada.” In addition to ranking on the Deloitte & Touche Technology Fast 500, F5 placed number 3 on the Washington State Technology Fast 50, which is a ranking of the 50 fastest growing technology firms in Washington State.
Fast 500 Selection and Qualifications
The Fast 500 list is compiled from three sources: Deloitte & Touche’s 20 regional North American Fast 50 programs, nominations submitted directly to the Fast 500, and public company database research. To qualify for the Fast 500, companies must have had 1997 operating revenues of at least $50,000 USD and $75,000 CD, for United States and Canada respectively, must be public or private companies headquartered in North America, and be "technology companies" defined as companies that own proprietary technology that contributes to a significant portion of the company’s operating revenues or devote a high percentage of effort to research and development of technology. Technology Fast 500 winners are invited to an exclusive CEO Summit held each spring. The CEO Summit, now in its fifth year, is designed to address the unique business challenges facing these super-charged technology companies.
About Deloitte & Touche
Deloitte & Touche, one of the nation’s leading professional services firms, provides assurance and advisory, tax, and management consulting services through nearly 30,000 people in more than 100 U.S. cities. The firm is dedicated to helping its clients and its people excel. Known as an employer of choice for innovative human resources programs, Deloitte & Touche has been recognized as one of the "100 Best Companies to Work for in America" by Fortune magazine for five consecutive years. Deloitte & Touche refers to Deloitte & Touche LLP and its related entities. Deloitte & Touche is the U.S. national practice of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu is a Swiss Verein, and each of its national practices is a separate and independent legal entity. For more information, please visit Deloitte & Touche’s Web site at www.deloitte.com.
About F5 Networks
F5 Networks is the Industry leader in Application Traffic Management, enabling enterprises and service providers to optimize any mission-critical application or web service, providing secure and predictable delivery of application traffic in an unpredictable environment. Through F5’s unique open iControl™ API, third party applications and network devices can take an active role in shaping network traffic, delivering application aware networks that allow customers to direct traffic based on their exact business requirements. Our solutions optimize the availability, security and speed of mission-critical servers and applications, including enterprise applications, web services, mobile IP applications, web publishing, content delivery, e-commerce, caching, firewalls and more. F5’s solutions are widely deployed in large enterprises, the top service providers, financial institutions, government agencies, healthcare, and portals throughout the world. The company is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, and has offices throughout North America, Europe Japan and Asia Pacific. F5 Networks is located on the web at www.f5.com.
This press release may contain forward-looking statements relating to future events or future financial performance that involve risks and uncertainties. Such statements can be identified by terminology such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “predicts”, “potential” or “continue” or the negative of such terms or comparable terms. These statements are only predictions and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these statements based upon a number of factors including those identified in the Company’s filings with the SEC.
CONTACTS:
Alane Moran Stefan de Krijger
F5 Networks, Inc. Neve Public Relations
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Stefan de Krijger
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