The BIG-IP SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) Load Balancing Solution from F5 Networks has won Internet Telephony's Product of the Year Award, recognizing the greatest achievements in the advancement of VoIP and IP telecommunications technologies on the basis of evident vision, leadership, and attention to detail.

The F5 product awarded is a specific configuration of F5's flagship product, BIG-IP Local Traffic Manager (LTM). BIG-IP LTM provides the necessary framework to achieve total scalability, availability, and reliability in a SIP environment. The solution is also available on a NEBS Level 3 certified platform to meet the needs of carrier grade telephony.

"Internet Telephony is proud to bestow F5 with a 2006 Product of the Year Award," said Rich Tehrani, TMC President and Editor-in-Chief of Internet Telephony. "Each year, our magazine recognizes companies that have demonstrated excellence in technological advancement and application refinements. F5 has proven its commitment to quality and excellence while addressing real needs in the marketplace."

A key differentiator for the BIG-IP product is its integration with F5's TMOS™ architecture, which delivers industry leading full proxy performance and unprecedented application networking intelligence. Because of this integration, the solution can take advantage of F5's unique application-fluent scripting language, iRules™. With a full SIP message header parser built in, the BIG-IP solution can access SIP content using iRules. And iRules can be used for custom persistence and protocol modification, adding immense versatility and scalability to telephony environments.

A full list of Product of the Year winners is published in the February 2007 issue of Internet Telephony. ENS