Application delivery company F5 Networks foresees significant growth in the use of its application optimisation technologies in Africa as companies and telecommunications service providers try to improve user experience and protect revenue.

F5 Networks UK, Europe and sub-Saharan Africa regional VP Myles Bray says the global information technology industry is at a turning point and many companies and firms are adopting a software-defined approach to data centre virtualisation and automation, networking and application delivery to provide cloud services.

As connectivity costs decrease, more telecom-munications operators are trying to maintain revenue by offering services to clients and users over their networks, a core capability of F5.

Application performance acceleration is achieved by using an application delivery controller to actively and dynamically manage traffic based on the speed of the connection, the load on the network and the requirements of the user’s end-point device.

The combination of these factors is then used to intelligently change the traffic sent to a user to provide the speed of access which the device and connection are capable of. Changes to the traffic sent include resizing images and videos, as well as prioritising different traffic, based on the historical actions of the users.

The application delivery controllers are located within a company’s data centres and add significant and flexible intelligence to the distribution of application data to users to provide acceptable levels of speed and, thus, improve user experience.

“Product life cycles are increasingly important considerations to ensure that companies do not pay too much for technology that may be out of date within months. “Cloud services and software-defined environments also make it easier and more affordable to have access to the required scale of service without having to buy equipment that may lose its value and functionality rapidly.”

However, F5’s expertise allows for the provision of technology that can enable companies, especially large telecommunications companies and financial services firms, to accelerate the performance of older equipment and derive value from ageing assets.

“We are well placed within Africa, with the requisite knowledge and experience to enable companies to improve user experience and use their existing network capacity effectively and profitably,” concludes Bray.