Security vendor F5 Networks has launched a range of software defined application services (SDAS) for its physical and virtual BIG-IP security system.

The new addition to its portfolio is aims to help data centers to protect themselves from increasingly sophisticated threats and to tighten security management.

The SDAS extends the range of F5’s Application Delivery Controller (ADC) portfolio to help data centers to fight off attacks targeting multiple areas of the open systems interconnect (OSI) stack, according to F5.

The main defenses will be against distributed denial of service (DDoS), zero-day, application-level assaults on data center systems.

F5 said with increasing numbers of applications being used in production environments their vulnerabilities are increasing and are becoming an attractive target for hackers.

New features will include future-proofing of application delivery and faster cloud migration.

The new services will make it easier for hyperscale domain name services (DNS) to be managed, with F5 promising 200 times the scalability of any competitive offerings.

Vodafone Australia’s general manager for network planning and engineering Barry Kezik said: “the move to F5 Synthesis architecture means we can offer our customers a higher quality of experience.”

“The DNS services in the BIG-IP platform allowed us to offer an improved service with a reduction in latency,” Kezik said.

F5 CTO Karl Triebes said data centers need to adapt quickly to new protocols, applications, and cloud technologies.

“They’re being asked to simultaneously scale infrastructures to support mobile devices and offer all types of content delivery - even in the face of more sophisticated security threats,” Triebes said.