I do an awful lot of talking about SOA: problems, challenges, concepts, solutions, security, products. But I don't often present "the big picture", and certainly rarely discuss how F5 and SOA go together like ice-cream and pretzels. I know, that isn't a traditional simile, but if you've ever tried hot pretzels and ice-cream you might agree with me in saying that while they don't sound like they go together they really do, and they do so well.

It's also applicable because when you think of ice-cream you don't immediately think of pretzels, and I'm fairly certain when you think of SOA you don't think of F5. But once you've tried ice-cream and pretzels, you probably will associate the two, and the same is true of SOA and F5.

But it's a lot less of an investment to run out and grab a hot pretzel and some ice-cream than it is to invest in all the products that make up an application delivery network. So you probably want to know a bit more before you consider it an option.

SOA reference architectures are nothing new, and there's a fairly well-defined reference architecture model for folks to use in order to fit all the applicable pieces together and understand what each entails. So what this interactive presentation offers is a look at F5 and how it fits into that reference architecture in an interactive Articulate presentation, and the suggestion to go ahead - try the pretzel with some ice-cream.

Launch the Interactive F5 SOA Reference Architecture.

Additional resources:

F5 SOA Reference Architecture (White Paper)

SOA Challenges and Solutions (White Paper)