BIG-IQ Cloud - Sales Playbook_v2

F5 BIG-IQ CLOUDSales Playbook for v4.0

2© F5 Networks, Inc.

BIG-IQCLOUD


This interactive sales playbook has four sections – a product overview and three sales plays targeting different customer scenarios:

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BIG-IQCLOUD


What is BIG-IQ?

What is BIG-IQ Cloud?

Pricing and availability

FAQ’s

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

ResourcesCompetitive

Resources

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy


Resources

Play 1:Traditional BIG-IP +

Play 3:Leveraging a public cloud

+

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy


Resources

Play 2:Building a private cloud

+Overview +


BIG-IQCLOUD


What is BIG-IQ?

What is BIG-IQ?



FAQ’s

BIG-IQ is a centralized management framework for BIG-IP solutions:

Device(H1 2014)Cloud Security

All BIG-IPBIG-IP LTM BIG-IP AFM

AdditionalModules

Overview

BIG-IQ Management framework


BIG-IQCLOUD


What is BIG-IQ?




FAQ’s

Orchestration tools Clients

BIG-IP*(iApps)

PublicCloud

PrivateCloud

TraditionalDatacenter

BIG-IQ Cloud integrates configuration of application delivery services into a customer’s application deployment workflow. To do this, BIG-IQ Cloud integrates with:• BIG-IP (via iApps)*• Cloud orchestration tools**• Cloud infrastructures***

* BIG-IP LTM provides iApp support for BIG-IQ Cloud in TMOS v11.3 and above. Future TMOS releases will add iApp support for additional BIG-IP solutions.

** BIG-IQ Cloud v4.0 supports VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security

*** BIG-IQ Cloud v4.0 supports Amazon Web Services

Overview


BIG-IQCLOUD


What is BIG-IQ?

Pricing


Pricing

FAQ’sProduct Price DescriptionF5-BIQ-CLD-VE-1k $14,995 BIG-IQ VE platform: 1000 Node LicenseF5-BIQ-CLD-VE-5k $49,995 BIG-IQ VE platform: 5000 Node LicenseF5-BIQ-CLD-VE-10k $79,995 BIG-IQ VE platform: 10,000 Node License

F5-BIQ-CLD-VE-M $104,995 BIG-IQ VE platform: Max Cloud Nodes

F5-ADD-BIQ-CLD-VE-1k $10,000 BIG-IQ Cloud Software only: 1000 Nodes

LicenseF5-ADD-BIQ-CLD-VE-5k $45,000 BIG-IQ Cloud Software only: 5000 Nodes

LicenseF5-ADD-BIQ-CLD-VE-10k $75,000 BIG-IQ Cloud Software only: 10,000 Nodes

LicenseF5-ADD-BIQ-CLD-VE-M

$100,000

BIG-IQ Cloud Software only: Max Cloud Node License

Notes:1. BIG-IQ Cloud is licensed by the # of nodes (logical object on a BIG-IP system identified by an IP

address).2. In v4.0, BIG-IQ Cloud is available as a VE only. Future releases will be available as hardware

platforms as well.

Overview

Example:For a customer with 7000 nodes, you should order:• F5-BIQ-CLD-VE-5K• F5-ADD-BIQ-CLD-VE-

1K• F5-ADD-BIQ-CLD-VE-1k• Support


BIG-IQCLOUD


What is BIG-IQ?

FAQ’s



FAQ’s

Why is the first release v4.0?BIG-IQ adopts release numbering for F5’s management platform and follows Enterprise Manager v3.

Is BIG-IQ only available as a VE?BIG-IQ v4.0 will only be available as a VE. Future releases will be available as an appliance as well as VE.

Overview

When will additional BIG-IQ modules be available?BIG-IQ will release a new version every four months, or three times a year.

Is BIG-IQ part of the Strongbox program?Yes. Partners can order BIG-IQ as part of the Strongbox program.

What about Enterprise Manager?Enterprise Manager will continue as F5’s device management solution for the time being, until it is replaced by a BIG-IQ module in the future.


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

Target market

Target customerExisting BIG-IP LTM target customer with traditional (non-cloud) infrastructures. Note that existing BIG-IP LTM customers may benefit from BIG-IQ Cloud, but should be made aware of current limitations (see Strengths and weaknesses).

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources

New application deploymentsScaling existing application deploymentsCloud computing projectsImprove manageability of BIG-IP LTM solutions

Customer initiatives

Increase IT responsiveness to business needsReduce IT overhead and administrative time

Customer imperatives

Poor IT responsiveness and high IT overheadPoor manageability of their BIG-IP LTM solutions.

Impact of not solving problem

Play 1:Traditional BIG-IP


BIG-IQCLOUD


Customer challengeMany enterprises have a vision of the dynamic data center, where infrastructure and applications can dynamically respond to changing business needs. Today, a significant obstacle to achieving this vision is the manual and time-consuming nature of configuring (and reconfiguring) infrastructure and applications any time there is a change. For example, provisioning a new application can take a lot of time and involve many steps. In many cases, the bottleneck has shifted from configuring the application itself to the supporting services, such as application delivery services on a BIG-IP. For some customers, we’ve seen that it can take weeks to go from initial user request to production. This can result in lower productivity, as users wait for application tools to be made available, as well as lost revenue, as revenue-generating applications remain offline

Target market

Play description

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources

Request services; define and clarify requirements among multiple IT

teams(1-2 weeks)

Sit in IT queue

(1-2 weeks)

Provision server(10 min)

Configure services(2-4 hrs)

Without BIG-IQ Cloud:

Play descriptionPlay 1:Traditional BIG-IP

Customer challenge

How we address the challengeSpecific solution capabilitiesCustomer benefits


BIG-IQCLOUD


How we address the challengeBIG-IQ Cloud allows IT to predefine a catalog of available application delivery services (using iApps). Application managers can then select a service from the catalog and deploy to available BIG-IP LTM through BIG-IQ Cloud’s self-service portal, independently and with minimal coordination with and overhead for other IT teams.

Target market

Play description

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources

Play descriptionPlay 1:Traditional BIG-IP

Application

Provider Portal

xExchange-Goldf5.microsoft_exchange_2010

Catalog

Exchange-SilverF5.microsoft_exchange_2010Exchange-BronzeF5.microsoft_exchange_2010

BIG-IQ Cloud

BIG-IP LTM

Providers (e.g., IT, cloud, or BIG-IP administrators) define the application catalog from iApps available on visible BIG-IP LTM devices.

Tenants (e.g., application managers) select a service from the catalog and deploy to an available BIG-IP LTM device to optimize their application.

Customer challengeHow we address the challenge

Specific solution capabilitiesCustomer benefits

Tenant Portal


BIG-IQCLOUD


Play descriptionTarget market

Play description

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources


Specific solution capabilitiesIn this play, position the following capabilities as part of a larger BIG-IP LTM opportunity:1. iApps provided by a BIG-IP LTM device help reduce configuration time and make it easier and faster

to deploy application delivery services.2. BIG-IQ Cloud’s application catalog enables IT to predefine a list of available application delivery

services based on iApps from known BIG-IP LTM devices.3. BIG-IQ Cloud’s self-service portal enables application managers to select and deploy a desired

application delivery service from the application catalog, independently and with minimal additional overhead.

Customer challengeHow we address the challengeSpecific solution capabilities

Customer benefits


BIG-IQCLOUD



Play description

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources


Customer challengeHow we address the challengeSpecific solution capabilitiesCustomer benefits

Customer benefitsBy predefining an application catalog and enabling application managers to self-select configuration options for available BIG-IP LTM devices, BIG-IQ Cloud can help reduce the amount of IT overhead and administrative time required to provision an application, the latter from weeks to minutes:

With BIG-IQ Cloud:

Select service(10 min)


Self-deploy services

(5 min)

You can position the benefits of BIG-IQ Cloud differently depending on your audience:• IT administrators and application managers will appreciate how BIG-IQ Cloud makes their jobs

easier, by reducing the overhead of defining requirements between multiple IT teams and automating the new service configuration.

• The CFO will be interested in how much money BIG-IQ Cloud can save or how much additional revenue it enables. For example, BIG-IQ Cloud may save three employees, two hours each, each time an application is deployed or reconfigured. Or, BIG-IQ Cloud may enable a revenue generating application to be deployed four weeks faster, allowing the organization to generate additional revenue.

• The CIO will be interested in how BIG-IQ Cloud brings his / her organization one step closer to the dynamic data center, by making the process of deploying new applications, or reconfiguring existing ones, faster and more responsive.


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources


Existing BIG-IP LTM buyers, including application managers and IT, network, and BIG-IP administrators

Pain points1. How difficult is it to do my job?2. How many different things do I have to manage?3. How long does it take to complete a task?

Qualifying questions4. How many BIG-IP LTM devices do you have? Do you have the time or resources to manage

them?5. Are you planning any new application deployments? Will you be judged on how quickly

they’re deployed?6. How long does it take to deploy a new application server or instance? What does that cost

your business over the course of the year, in terms of lower productivity or lost revenue?

Common objections and responsesQ. BIG-IP LTM already comes with iApps. Why do I need BIG-IQ Cloud?R. BIG-IQ Cloud works with iApps, but allows you to manage multiple BIG-IP LTM devices

from one place.Q. My existing BIG-IP LTM’s work fine. Why do I need something new?R. BIG-IQ Cloud doesn’t improve BIG-IP LTM, but rather it helps you save time and energy

when responding to provisioning requests from other parts of your organization.

The technical buyer

The financial buyerThe strategic buyer

Sales strategy


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources


Individuals for whom you need to justify the cost of the solution, such as the CFO

Pain points1. How much does it cost? Is it really necessary? 2. What is the projected Return on Investment (ROI)?

Qualifying questions3. How much time does your staff spend deploying applications? What is the operational

cost of that?4. Will being able to deploy applications faster help you increase worker productivity or

revenue?

Common objections and responsesQ. I already have people to do this. Why do I need this solution?R. Manually provisioning application services is inefficient. BIG-IQ Cloud helps you automate

this process, so you can deploy your people to other, more important projects.Q. This is a nice-to-have, not a must-have. We’ve been able to do without in the past.R. While it’s true that you’ve always been able to deploy applications without BIG-IQ Cloud,

how much time has that historically consumed? How many other IT projects are being held up due to lack of resources?

Q. What’s the ROI?R. How many people do this manually today? How long does it take them? And what’s their

FTE cost?

$

The technical buyerThe financial buyer

The strategic buyer

Sales strategy


BIG-IQCLOUD


Sales strategyTarget market

Play description

Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources


The technical buyerThe financial buyerThe strategic buyer

Individuals into whose vision the solution must fit, such as the CIO

Pain points1. How does this help me better align IT with the business or respond to the changing

requirements?2. How does this fit in with my vision of the future data center?

Qualifying questions3. How many people or different IT teams are involved each time you need to deploy a new

application server or instance? Does that take time or resources away from other, more important, tasks?

4. Are you considering deploying applications in a private or public cloud? Do you expect any difficulty in managing applications across multiple infrastructures

Common objections and responsesQ. This is operational. Why do I care?R. Every application provisioning request that comes in distracts your team and diverts your

resources from achieving your strategic goals. BIG-IQ Cloud gets you closer to a self-service model, relieving the burden from your team.

Q. We’re moving to the cloud. Why do I need this in my data center?R. Are you moving all of your applications to the cloud, or just some? BIG-IQ Cloud helps you

manage across both using the same processes, so you can move to the cloud at your own place.


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

CompetitorsIn this play, BIG-IQ Cloud complements BIG-IP LTM and targets existing customers or new customers as part of a larger BIG-IP LTM opportunity. As such, the competitive dynamics focus primarily on BIG-IP LTM and not BIG-IQ Cloud. Major competitors for BIG-IP LTM include Citrix NetScaler, Radware, and Riverbed Stingray.

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources

Play 1:Traditional BIG-IP Competitive

Competitors

Strengths and weaknessesOur positionUnique differentiators


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources

CompetitorsStrengths and weaknesses

Strengths1. As BIG-IQ Cloud helps customers manage

BIG-IP LTM, consider the strengths of BIG-IP LTM:a) The industry-leading ADC solution, with

the highest scale and fastest performance

b) Inherent built-in application awareness and intelligence

2. BIG-IQ Cloud offers customers significant flexibility in infrastructure choice and configuration, helping them deploy application delivery services across multiple cloud and non-cloud infrastructures, at the same time.

Weaknesses1. As the initial release, BIG-IQ Cloud v4.0

comes with limitations that will be addressed over time:a) Cannot import existing BIG-IP LTM

configurations. Customers can use BIG-IQ Cloud with existing BIG-IP LTM devices but must rebuild the configuration.

b) Only available as a VE2. BIG-IP LTM provides iApp support for BIG-IQ

Cloud in TMOS v11.3 and above. Future TMOS releases will add iApp support for additional BIG-IP solutions.

3. Customers may perceive our management portfolio as disjoint, with three point solutions – BIG-IQ Cloud, BIG-IQ Security, and Enterprise Manager.

Our positionUnique differentiators

Play 1:Traditional BIG-IP Competitive


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

Competitive

Our positionBIG-IQ will be F5’s management framework going forward, with v4.0 being the initial release. Over time, customers can expect to see support in BIG-IQ Cloud for:1. Additional cloud use cases, as well as more robust support for existing use cases such as cloud

bursting2. Additional orchestration tools3. Additional public cloud infrastructures4. Additional BIG-IP solutions to be managed through BIG-IQ Cloud (via iApps).Beyond BIG-IQ Cloud, customers can expect BIG-IQ to release additional modules over time, as well as subsume existing Enterprise Manager functionality.

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

ResourcesUnique differentiatorsIn this play, any sales opportunities will lead with BIG-IP LTM and focus on the value that it provides in application delivery networking. As such, you should differentiate your proposed solution with BIG-IP LTM features and capabilities.


CompetitorsStrengths and weaknessesOur position

Unique differentiators


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

ResourcesTarget market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources

PresentationsBIG-IQ Cloud Overview: Centralized Management (Hive|PRC)

Solution ProfilesAutomate Configuration of Application Networking Services in the Cloud (F5.com)

DatasheetsBIG-IQ Cloud (F5.com)

White PapersManaging the Cloud with BIG-IQ Cloud (F5.com)

Analyst ReportsOptimizing Network Services Orchestration and Automation for the Cloud (F5.com)


https://hive.f5.com/docs/DOC-9747

https://www.f5.com/partners/secure/na/resources/sales-resources/big-ip-sales-tools/

http://www.f5.com/pdf/solution-profiles/big-iq-cloud-solution-profile.pdf

http://www.f5.com/pdf/products/big-iq-cloud-datasheet.pdf

http://www.f5.com/tools/external-links/interact/managing-the-cloud-with-big-iq-cloud-white-paper/

http://www.f5.com/tools/external-links/interact/optimizing-network-services-orchestration-and-automation-for-cloud/


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

Target marketTarget market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources

Target customerThis play primarily targets enterprise organizations building a private cloud on a VMware infrastructure. However, much of the content also applies to a service provider building a public cloud, so long as it too is on a VMware infrastructure.

Application virtualization projectsPrivate cloud infrastructure rolloutApplication self-service initiativesVMware projects


Increase IT responsiveness to business needsReduce IT overhead and administrative timeReduced IT infrastructure costs

Customer imperatives

Poor IT responsiveness and high IT overheadLower user productivityHigher IT infrastructure costs




BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Customer challengeMany enterprises have a vision of the dynamic data center, where infrastructure and applications can dynamically respond to changing business needs. Today, a significant obstacle to achieving this vision is the manual and time-consuming nature of configuring (and reconfiguring) infrastructure and applications any time there is a change. For example, provisioning a new application can take a lot of time and involve many steps. In many cases, the bottleneck has shifted from configuring the application itself to the supporting services, such as application delivery services on a BIG-IP. For some customers, we’ve seen that it can take weeks to go from initial user request to production. This can result in lower productivity, as users wait for application tools to be made available, as well as lost revenue, as revenue-generating applications remain offlineIn private cloud or virtual infrastructures, many customers use orchestration tools to automate the process of provisioning new applications. However, these orchestration tools may not consider additional supporting services that may also require configuration. As a result, deploying or reconfiguring applications continues to require manual intervention and an IT responsiveness may remain poor.

Customer challenge

How we address the challenge

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources

Specific solution capabilities

Play 2:Building a private cloud Play description

Customer benefits

Request services; define and clarify requirements among multiple IT

teams(1-2 weeks)

Sit in IT queue

(1-2 weeks)


Configure services(2-4 hrs)

Without BIG-IQ Cloud:


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

How we address the challengeBIG-IQ Cloud integrates with VMware orchestration tools to include the configuration of application delivery services on BIG-IP LTM as part of the workflow for provisioning new applications.BIG-IQ Cloud:1. Registers with the orchestration tool to

insert BIG-IP LTM configuration into its application provisioning workflow.

vCloud Director or vCloud Networking and Security:2. Spins up a new virtual application server.3. Spins up a new BIG-IP LTM VE, if needed.4. Instructs BIG-IQ Cloud to configure the

BIG-IP LTM (physical or VE) using the appropriate iApp from the application catalog.

Note that the BIG-IP LTM may be either a physical appliance or a VE. However, in a virtual application environment, your customer will also likely desire a virtual ADC.


Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources



Customer benefits

2

vCloud Director

1 4

VMware infrastructure

Clients

Virtual applications

BIG-IP LTM3


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources


Specific solution capabilitiesIn this play, position the following capabilities as part of a larger BIG-IP LTM opportunity:1. iApps provided by a BIG-IP LTM device help reduce configuration time and make it easier and faster

to deploy application delivery services.2. BIG-IQ Cloud’s application catalog enables IT to predefine a list of available application delivery

services based on iApps from known BIG-IP LTM devices.3. BIG-IQ Cloud’s self-service portal enables application managers to select and deploy a desired

application delivery service from the application catalog, independently and with minimal additional overhead.

4. BIG-IQ Cloud’s integration with VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security, which is the VMware framework for network and security configuration.



Customer benefits


BIG-IQCLOUD



Play description

Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources


Customer benefitsBy predefining an application catalog and enabling application managers to self-select configuration options for available BIG-IP LTM devices, BIG-IQ Cloud can help reduce the amount of IT overhead and administrative time required to provision an application, the latter from weeks to minutes.Specific solution capabilities

Customer benefits


Select service(10 min)


Self-deploy services

(5 min)

With BIG-IQ Cloud:

In addition, integrating with VMware orchestration tools allows this process to occur as part of your customer’s existing automated workflow for provisioning new applications.You can position the benefits of BIG-IQ Cloud differently depending on your audience:• IT administrators and application managers will appreciate how BIG-IQ Cloud makes their jobs

easier, by reducing the overhead of defining requirements between multiple IT teams and automating the new service configuration.

• The CFO will be interested in how much money BIG-IQ Cloud can save or how much additional revenue it enables. For example, BIG-IQ Cloud may save three employees, two hours each, each time an application is deployed or reconfigured. Or, BIG-IQ Cloud may enable a revenue generating application to be deployed four weeks faster, allowing the organization to generate additional revenue.

• The CIO will be interested in how BIG-IQ Cloud brings his / her organization one step closer to the dynamic data center, by making the process of deploying new applications, or reconfiguring existing ones, faster and more responsive.


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources

Play 2:Building a private cloud Sales strategy

The technical buyer




Qualifying questions4. How many BIG-IP LTM devices do you have? Do you have the time or resources to manage

them?5. How do you scale your application infrastructure today? Can you scale it easily and as

needed, without significant overhead?6. Do you have a virtualization or private cloud infrastructure initiative or project? What are

the business objectives?7. Do you use VMware vCloud Director or vCloud Networking and Security to orchestrate

provisioning? Would it save your team time to be able orchestrate application delivery services as part of that?

Common objections and responsesQ. We’re already using VMware. I don’t want another way of managing things.R. BIG-IQ Cloud integrates with vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security APIs to

insert application delivery services into your existing application provisioning workflow.


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources



The strategic buyer



Qualifying questions3. Do you have a virtualization or private cloud infrastructure initiative? What are your

business objectives?4. Will being able to deploy applications faster help you increase worker productivity or

revenue?

Common objections and responsesQ. We use VMware to orchestrate application provisioning. Why do we need you?R. vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security provision new application servers,

but you still need to configure application delivery services to optimize them. Without BIG-IQ Cloud, you still have to perform this step manually.

Q. What’s the ROI?R. Without BIG-IQ Cloud, you still have to manually configure application delivery services.

How many people do this manually today? How long does it take them? And what’s their FTE cost?

$Sales strategy


BIG-IQCLOUD



Play description

Sales strategy

Competitive

Resources


Individuals into whose vision the solution must fit, such as the CIO and cloud architects



Qualifying questions3. Do you have a virtualization or private cloud infrastructure initiative? What are your

business objectives?4. Is application delivery a strategic part of your infrastructure? Do you want that to be tied

into your vision of a dynamic data center?

Common objections and responsesQ. We use VMware to orchestrate application provisioning. Why do we need you?R. vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security provision new application servers,

but you still need to configure application delivery services to optimize them. Without BIG-IQ Cloud, you still have to perform this step manually.

Q. We’re already using VMware. I don’t want another way of managing things.R. BIG-IQ Cloud integrates with vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security APIs to

insert application delivery services into your existing application provisioning workflow.



BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources

CompetitorsCompared with Play 1, BIG-IQ Cloud is a more important component of the overall solution in this play. You should position not just the capabilities of BIG-IP LTM VE, but also the ability to dynamically provision application delivery services. Therefore, competitors will include any application delivery solutions with both:1. A virtual ADC; and 2. Integration with an orchestration tool.When evaluating competitors, consider the breadth of ADC services available by their offering. For example, the F5 solution provides the full application delivery capabilities of the BIG-IP LTM, not just load balancing. Compare this with the following competitors:• Radware offers a virtual ADC and markets an integration with vCloud Director. However, their

solution has more limited capabilities, although it does provide the ability to bare-metal provision as part of the provisioning workflow.

• Although this play targets VMware environments, Citrix may be considered a competitor to the overall BIG-IP LTM / BIG-IQ Cloud / VMware solution. However, Citrix only provides load balancing capabilities, not full application delivery services nor application templates.

For many customers, it is important for a new technology solution to be not only cutting edge, but also fully supported by, or integrated with, their trusted infrastructure solution. BIG-IQ Cloud is both. In VMware environments, F5 is currently the only ADC vendor that has access to the full breadth of API’s that BIG-IQ Cloud uses to integrate with vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security.


Competitors


Competitive


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

Target market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources




the highest scale and fastest performance


2. F5 is a trusted partner for VMware. With BIG-IQ Cloud, the F5 solution has the strongest integration with VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security of any ADC vendor.

Weaknesses1. As the initial release, BIG-IQ Cloud v4.0

comes with limitations that will be addressed over time:a) Only supports VMware orchestration toolsb) Cannot bare-metal provision BIG-IP LTM

VE or application serverc) Cannot import existing BIG-IP LTM


d) Only available as a VE2. BIG-IP LTM provides iApp support for BIG-IQ

Cloud in TMOS v11.3 and above. Future TMOS releases will add iApp support for additional BIG-IP solutions.

3. Customers may perceive our management portfolio as disjoint, with three point solutions – BIG-IQ Cloud, BIG-IQ Security, and Enterprise Manager.



Competitive


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

CompetitiveTarget market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources





bursting2. Additional orchestration tools3. Additional public cloud infrastructures4. Additional BIG-IP solutions to be managed through BIG-IQ Cloud.Beyond BIG-IQ Cloud, customers can expect BIG-IQ to release additional modules over time, as well as subsume existing Enterprise Manager functionality.

Unique differentiatorsThe BIG-IP LTM and BIG-IQ Cloud solution offers the strongest integration with VMware vCloud Director and vCloud Networking and Security of any ADC vendor. By going with the F5 solution, your customers will be deploying a solution that is not only cutting edge, but also fully supported by, or integrated with, their existing VMware infrastructure.


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive


Play description

Sales strategy

Resources

PresentationsBIG-IQ Cloud Overview: Centralized Management (Hive|PRC)

Solution ProfilesAutomate Configuration of Application Networking Services in the Cloud (F5.com)F5 and VMware Integration Streamlines App Provisioning Process (F5.com)




VideosStreamline and Automate network Services with VMware and F5 (F5.com)





http://www.f5.com/pdf/solution-center/f5-vcef-app-provisioning-overview.pdf




http://www.f5.com/featured/video/streamline-automate-network-services-vmware/


BIG-IQCLOUD


Competitive

Target marketTarget market

Play description

Sales strategy

Resources


Target customerEnterprises looking to deploy one or more applications in a public cloud and currently planning / implementing a pilot program or proof-of-concept.

New application deploymentsScaling existing application deploymentsCloud computing projects


Poor IT responsiveness and high IT overheadHigher IT infrastructure costsMultiple different application deployment processes for traditional or cloud infrastructure


Customer imperativesIncrease IT responsiveness to business needsReduce IT overhead and administrative timeReduced IT infrastructure costs


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources

Play 3:Leveraging a public cloud Play description

Customer challenge

How we address the challengeSpecific solution capabilitiesCustomer benefits

Customer challengeBeyond the challenges described in Plays 1 and 2 (which still apply), organizations that are looking to use a public cloud face additional unique challenges:1. The first results from an application

environment that spans multiple infrastructures. Consider an organization that wants to supplement its existing applications with servers deployed in Amazon Web Services. They would need different processes and workflows for managing applications on each, negating the potential operational benefits of a public cloud.

2. In general, organizations are considering public cloud to supplement their existing infrastructure, such as to add application capacity during demand spikes (i.e., cloud bursting). In reality, achieving this goal is challenging today, not least because of the time required to provision additional servers and integrate into existing application pools.

PrivateCloud

PublicCloud


Clients

ApplicationServers


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources



Specific solution capabilitiesCustomer benefits

ClientsHow we address the challengeBIG-IQ Cloud standardizes the processes for deploying application delivery services across cloud and non-cloud infrastructures. With the application catalog, IT can predefine application delivery services across multiple infrastructures, making it easy for application managers to select and deploy those services as needed.This solution also enables organizations to supplement existing applications with additional application capacity in the cloud, using secure iSessions to transmit data between multiple BIG-IP LTM devices located in the data center, on virtual infrastructures, and on Amazon Web Services as a public cloud infrastructure.

BIG-IQ Cloud

Private Cloud(VMware)

Public Cloud(AWS)


BIG-IP LTM

ApplicationServers


BIG-IQCLOUD


Target market

Play description

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources


Customer challengeHow we address the challengeSpecific solution capabilities

Customer benefits

Specific solution capabilitiesIn this play, position how the capabilities of both BIG-IQ Cloud and BIG-IP LTM put customers in a better position to leverage a public cloud:BIG-IQ Cloud:1. The application catalog enables IT to predefine available application delivery services across

multiple available infrastructures.2. The self-service portal enables application managers to deploy new services independently on any

available infrastructure with minimal additional overhead.3. The REST API provides a secure control session to interface with public cloud infrastructures

(Amazon Web Services).BIG-IP LTM:4. iApps provided by a BIG-IP LTM device help reduce configuration time and make it easier and faster

to deploy application delivery services.5. iSessions allows for secure data transmission between multiple BIG-IP LTM devices deployed across

multiple sites.


BIG-IQCLOUD



Play description

Competitive

Sales strategy

Resources


Customer challengeHow we address the challengeSpecific solution capabilitiesCustomer benefits

Customer benefitsIn addition to the benefits described in Plays 1 and 2 (which still apply), this play concentrates on the benefits of using BIG-IQ Cloud to simplify the process of provisioning application delivery services across multiple infrastructures. With BIG-IQ Cloud, customers can standardize their application provisioning workflow across cloud and non-cloud infrastructures, to dramatically reduce the amount of IT overhead and administrative time required to provision applications.You can position the benefits of BIG-IQ Cloud differently depending on your audience:• IT administrators and application managers will appreciate how BIG-IQ Cloud makes their jobs

easier, by making the process for provisioning application delivery services the same, regardless of the underlying infrastructure on which any particular application runs.

• The CFO will be interested in how much money BIG-IQ Cloud can save. For example, standardizing processes may allow organizations to “do more with less” and forgo additional headcount as it deploys more applications on different infrastructures, including public clouds.

• The CIO will be interested in how BIG-IQ Cloud gives his organization flexibility in leveraging different types of infrastructures as appropriate, including public clouds.

In addition, BIG-IQ Cloud provides basic support for customers to “burst” their applications to the cloud. While future releases will bring additional capabilities to strengthen this value proposition, the initial v4.0 release does allow customers to expand their application infrastructure from their existing data centers to Amazon Web Services, with limitations (see Strengths and weaknesses). This can help customers better respond to spikes in demand without the need to invest in additional physical infrastructure.


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The technical buyer


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Qualifying questions4. Do you have a public cloud infrastructure initiative or project? Are you going to need to

manage applications across your existing infrastructure and the cloud? Will that add to your workload?

5. How long does it take to deploy a new application server or instance? What does that cost your business over the course of the year, in terms of lower productivity or lost revenue?

Common objections and responsesQ. My existing BIG-IP LTM’s work fine. Why do I need something new?R. BIG-IQ Cloud manages multiple BIG-IP LTM to save you time and energy when responding

to application provisioning requests, whether those applications are deployed in your data center or the cloud.

Q. BIG-IP LTM already comes with iApps. Why do I need BIG-IQ Cloud?R. BIG-IQ Cloud works with iApps, but allows you to manage multiple BIG-IP LTM devices

from one place, whether those devices are deployed in your data center or the cloud.


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The strategic buyer

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Qualifying questions3. Will being able to manage applications deployed across cloud and non-cloud

infrastructures in the same manner reduce operational costs?4. Does your business experience changing requirements, such as foreseeable spikes in

demand? What is the business impact of not being able to meet those changing requirements?

Common objections and responsesQ. I already have people to do this. Why do I need this solution?R. Manually provisioning application services is inefficient. BIG-IQ Cloud helps you automate

this process, so you can deploy your people to other, more important projects.Q. What’s the ROI?R. How many people do this manually today? How long does it take them? And what’s their

FTE cost?

$


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Individuals into whose vision the solution must fit, such as the CIO and cloud architects



Qualifying questions3. Do you have a public cloud infrastructure initiative? What is the business objective

driving that?4. Does your business experience changing requirements, such as foreseeable spikes in

demand? What is the business impact of not being able to meet those changing requirements?

Common objections and responsesQ. We’re not looking at Amazon. Do you support our enterprise-class public cloud of choice?R. BIG-IQ Cloud is built on with extensible architecture and you can expect to see us add

support for additional public cloud options over time. Which provider are you considering?


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CompetitorsIn this play, knowing your customer’s requirements is especially important when trying to understand the competitive landscape. For example, does your customer plan to:• Deploy their application solely in a single public cloud infrastructure?• Deploy their application across multiple different infrastructures?When discussing a public cloud infrastructure with your customers, you may often find yourself competing with that provider’s own load balancer offering. In some cases, this is a resell of a known competitive offering, such as GoGrid offering Riverbed Stringray (Zeus) to its customers. In other cases, larger providers may have their own homegrown offering. For example, Amazon Web Services offers its own Elastic Load Balancing (ELB). In both of these cases, the load balancing service is likely being sold at low cost and it may be difficult to reorient the discussion to focus on value. However, if your customer already has BIG-IP LTM deployed in their data center for other applications, then BIG-IQ Cloud can help you discuss the benefits of managing a single application delivery solution across multiple infrastructures, whether this is for a single application deployed across multiple infrastructures or multiple applications, each deployed on a single infrastructure.

Competitors



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the highest scale and fastest performance.


2. BIG-IQ Cloud offers customers significant flexibility in infrastructure choice and configuration, helping them deploy application delivery services across multiple cloud and non-cloud infrastructures, at the same time.

Weaknesses1. As the initial release, BIG-IQ Cloud v4.0 comes

with limitations that will be addressed over time:a) Cannot bare-metal provision BIG-IP LTM VE or

application serverb) Only supports AWS as a public cloudc) Cannot import existing BIG-IP LTM


d) Only available as a VE2. BIG-IQ Cloud must be deployed in a local data

center, not in a public cloud.3. BIG-IP LTM provides iApp support for BIG-IQ Cloud

in TMOS v11.3 and above. Future TMOS releases will add iApp support for additional BIG-IP solutions.

4. Feature set supporting the “cloud burst” use case is limited. For example, most customers would require bare-metal provisioning of both BIG-IP LTM VE and application servers in the public cloud, as well as support for BIG-IP GTM and BIG-IP WOM.




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bursting2. Additional orchestration tools3. Additional public cloud infrastructures4. Additional BIG-IP solutions to be managed through BIG-IQ Cloud.Beyond BIG-IQ Cloud, customers can expect BIG-IQ to release additional modules over time, as well as subsume existing Enterprise Manager functionality.

Unique differentiatorsIn this play, you will most likely be targeting existing BIG-IP LTM customers looking to deploy one or more applications in a public cloud. Your customers already understand the benefits that BIG-IP LTM offers, but are looking to get the same benefits as they move to the cloud. As such, you should differentiate your proposed solution with BIG-IP LTM features and capabilities, while BIG-IQ Cloud provides the ability to manage BIG-IP LTM devices across their entire application environment.


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PresentationsBIG-IQ Cloud Overview: Centralized Management (Hive|PRC)BIG-IP for AWS: F5 in the Amazon Cloud (Hive)

Solution ProfilesAutomate Configuration of Application Networking Services in the Cloud (F5.com)













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BIG-IQ Cloud - Sales Playbook_v2

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Transcript of BIG-IQ Cloud - Sales Playbook_v2