When F5 recently announced the Access Policy Manager (APM) one of the exciting elements was the ability to add access control and single-sign-on (SSO) capabilities to existing application delivery controllers. This allows customers to simplify their application deployments and provides a significant cost savings.

Of course, releasing a new product offering that promises amazing new capabilities and enormous cost savings is something that anyone can do.  Once the customer has it, it is often left up to them to figure out how to integrate it into their environment—a task which often decreases the value of the solution and delays deployment.  Customers want more than just a product and promises.  They want solutions.

F5’s dedicated product management engineering team actively configures F5 solutions in real-world scenarios in the F5 Technology Center.  It is here that the true value of F5 solutions is uncovered as they work with the most well-known application vendors to determine how best to integrate F5 technology with the mission-critical business applications our customers use.  The result is a host of deployment guides giving customers step-by-step guidance and best practices for getting the most out of your F5 investment.  Many of these efforts feed directly into the pre-built application templates shipped with our BIG-IP family of products.

In support of the APM product offering, our team of crack-engineers went to work to document and detail how to integrate APM with three of the most popular identity management and access control solutions on the market: IBM’s Tivolo Access Manger for e-business; Oracle Access Manager; and Microsoft Access for Exchange Server 2010 and SharePoint.  These guides not only detail configuration of the F5 solutions, but also the required configurations of the partner’s software in support of F5’s solution.

A vendor solution shouldn’t just be a product and a bunch of features; their responsibility to their customers goes on long after the product has been received on the loading dock.  F5’s continued dedication to providing customers with superior value and

 Product Information:

• BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM)
• BIG-IP Access Policy Manager (APM)

Deployment Guides:

• F5 BIG-IP Access Policy Manager with IBM, Oracle and Microsoft (BIG-IP v10, APM)