F5 introduces NGINX One to boost app security & delivery

F5 has announced the general availability of F5 NGINX One, a software aimed at enhancing application security and delivery for development, operations, and platform teams. The software facilitates easier ownership, optimisation, and governance of NGINX components across various contexts.

The launch of F5 NGINX One comes at a critical time as enterprise application teams increasingly face challenges in delivering applications across diverse environments. According to F5, NGINX One helps to consolidate multiple NGINX offerings into a single solution, thereby improving security, scalability, and performance in hybrid multicloud environments.

"NGINX One is ideal for modern, ephemeral, and cloud-native app components such as containers and Kubernetes," said Shawn Wormke, Vice President and General Manager for NGINX at F5. "App delivery and security functions—and corresponding visibility—are often sequestered among individual groups. This offering cost-effectively optimises, scales, and secures complicated application and API environments across multiple teams."

NGINX One unifies various NGINX offerings, combining advanced load balancing, web and application server capabilities, API gateway functionalities, and security features into a dedicated package. The software introduces a centralised, SaaS-based console designed to simplify configuration, security, and observability for all teams, thus reducing operational overhead.

Shawn Wormke emphasized that successful application deployment requires collaboration among multiple teams. "Successful application deployment is a team sport," he explained. "NGINX One simplifies the collaborative process, making it easier for teams to enforce security policies, receive configuration guidance, and automate version and patch updates, ensuring compliance across the board."

The software also aims to enhance application performance and security with integrated AI-driven insights and telemetry. These features provide real-time performance recommendations and help to accelerate app deployment.

Jim Mercer, IDC Program Vice President for Software Development, DevOps, and DevSecOps, commented on the importance of such integration. "The success of microservices-based and containerised applications and app components relies on the work of many separate teams," he said. "NGINX One makes it easier to harmonise these workflows. This release signifies NGINX's evolution from primarily a development tool to a more mature enterprise-class SaaS-based solution."

Addressing the challenges faced by application teams, the NGINX One Console provides a comprehensive view of NGINX. This allows for easier management and security of NGINX instances and NGINX Open Source. The uniform policy enforcement enabled by this console helps development teams scale applications in line with business demands and ensures global policy compliance.

Juan Zamora, CEO and founder of Hopla! Software, praised the new software. "With NGINX One, we can provide enterprise-grade services and consistent application traffic management for any deployment model," he said.

Vinnie Chhabra, IT Engineer at Medallia, also shared his positive experience. "We rely on NGINX for our Tier 1 applications. NGINX One is giving Medallia lots of visibility into our NGINX Plus instances, and it has helped us identify some system vulnerabilities," he said. "Looking forward, NGINX One will be essential for our IT and InfoSec teams to expand our visibility into usage, performance, and security."

NGINX One also aims to simplify and centralise the management of application traffic optimisation, security, and scalability, thereby enabling enterprises to innovate more quickly without compromising on security or observability. The software runs alongside F5 Distributed Cloud Services, providing seamless integration across the F5 solution portfolio. This includes new sets of telemetry and AI capabilities that offer additional insights into app performance and security.