A10 Networks Confident That Suits By F5 and Brocade Lack Merit

SAN JOSE, Calif., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- A10 Networks™, the technology leader in Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs), has announced that two of A10's competitors -- F5 Networks, Inc. (FFIV) and Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. (BRCD) -- have recently filed lawsuits against A10's award-winning AX Series Application Delivery Controllers.  Despite these meritless lawsuits, A10 reiterates that it will continue to offer the AX Series to the market.  

A10 Networks has a history of innovation and success with its AX Series ADCs, which represent a new generation of server load balancers:

• Rapid market acceptance of A10's AX Series highlighted by the company recently winning an Inc. 500 award with sales growth of nearly 5,000% over three years and achieving 14 consecutive quarters of revenue growth
• Sample accolades won in recognition of A10's industry innovation include the esteemed Best of Microsoft TechEd and multiple Best of Interop awards
• AX's Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS) is the ADC industry's first architecture that is designed from the ground up for multi-core, multi-CPU architecture
• A full line of true 64-bit appliances with shared memory and solid-state drives (SSDs) deliver higher performance, reliability, scalability and efficiency
• Significant pricing differentiation in the market as all features are included without additional license fees, differing from competitors that charge extra for features, performance or both

A10's Founder and CEO, Lee Chen, explained that, "faced with the many capabilities of the AX Series, including our innovative architecture and business model for application delivery without extra cost, two of A10's competitors -- F5 Networks, Inc. and Brocade Communications Systems, Inc. -- have recently chosen to compete not in the marketplace but in the courts."  F5 and Brocade have filed actions against A10 in separate lawsuits in Washington state and California.  "We understand that reporters who wrote articles about the litigation were supplied with information by our competitors," Mr. Chen notes, "giving an incomplete picture of the facts in the respective suits." 

Mr. Chen emphasized that, "as the owner of valuable Intellectual Property rights, A10 respects the Intellectual Property rights of others and takes these recent allegations very seriously.  But, after carefully reviewing the complaints filed in these actions, we believe that A10 has acted firmly within its rights and there is certainly no wrongdoing."

Mr. Chen added, "A10 will vigorously defend itself against each of these actions, and expects to be fully exonerated, and A10 will also seek an award of its attorneys' fees incurred in defending its rights to compete in the U.S. market against the meritless claims."

It is A10's belief and position that F5 and Brocade have no legal right to prevent A10 from advancing the AX Series products or to recover anything from A10 or its customers.  As for the allegations of patent infringement, A10 will show that the asserted F5 and Brocade patents are not infringed and/or are invalid.  Regarding F5's and Brocade's vague allegations regarding trade secrets and contracts, A10 will show that neither A10 nor its employees acted improperly in any way (to the extent that F5 or Brocade have any valid trade secrets).  As for requests for injunctions, an injunction is unlikely in either of these cases. For an injunction to issue, the companies must satisfy strict legal requirements and must prove wrongdoing by A10.  A10 denies any such wrongdoing, and neither F5 nor Brocade can satisfy the strict legal requirements recently imposed on injunctions by the U.S. Supreme Court.

In communications with customers, Mr. Chen confirmed and reiterated that, "it should be clear to customers and competitors alike that A10 will continue to be able to offer its award winning ADCs without disruption, regardless of the outcome of these actions."  

Please contact A10's outside general legal counsel, Robert D. Cochran, Esq., at 650-298-9901 ext 188 with any questions.

SOURCE A10 Networks