F5 VELOS Hardware Powers AI for Service Providers and Enterprises
INDIA, 12th March 2025 – F5 (NASDAQ: FFIV) announced powerful new additions to the F5 VELOS product line, giving service providers and large enterprises a unified and customizable solution to optimize modern applications required for AI, safeguard workloads, and reduce downtime across single and multi-tenant application environments.
AI applications are highly distributed, with vast amounts of valuable data traveling in complex patterns. As organizations accelerate their use of AI, high-performance traffic management and advanced security are critical. Part of the F5 Application Delivery and Security Platform, VELOS reduces complexity of large-scale AI deployments by converging availability, management, and security capabilities.
With the new VELOS CX1610 chassis and BX520 400-Gbps blade, the solution scales to multi-terabits of throughput, suitable for the highest performance NEBS-compliance standards and supporting the most demanding 5G Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) services.
For service providers, VELOS provides 6 Tbps of high-speed L4 throughput for FWA deployments, along with an unmatched 6.4 billion concurrent connections (400 million per blade) for exceptional scalability, and 80 million L4 connections per second for firewall security. Both the VELOS CX1610 chassis and BX520 blade are already deployed in a production 5G network with a Tier-1 U.S. telecommunications provider.
“Making AI practical and simple for end users and practitioners is a massive undertaking, and legacy infrastructure is becoming a barrier for service providers and large enterprises seeking to implement AI-enhanced apps,” said Maggie Stringfellow, VP and GM, BIG-IP, F5. “With integrated load balancing and support for 5G workloads, VELOS optimizes performance, streamlines operations, and secures applications in support of hybrid multicloud environments, enabling apps, APIs, and large language models with the services required to unlock the true potential of AI.”
Delivers Comprehensive Performance for AI Workloads
F5 VELOS offers a fully integrated and tested system, providing scalable, reliable performance for any application. Organizations no longer need to engineer their individual application stacks with different combinations of server hardware and operating software, hypervisors, and ADCs. Moreover, VELOS dynamically allocates resources based on workload demands, optimizing traffic flow and ensuring AI models receive the data processing power they need without excess lag. VELOS addresses the increasingly complex and large data traffic volume demands of AI and data-intensive applications, maintaining low latency and consistent throughput for data flows. As a result, end users enjoy a vastly superior experience with AI applications.
Protects any Application from Sophisticated Threats
VELOS defends applications with F5’s comprehensive security offerings. It protects against today’s expanding threat landscape while maintaining optimal performance, enabled by offloading to FPGAs. With its 5 million L4 connections per second per blade, VELOS is primed to deliver unsurpassed firewall performance. Taking a unified, layered approach to security, F5’s extensible architecture supports numerous use cases. Highlights include:
- BIG-IP AFM protects networks against incoming threats like DDoS attacks via machine learning, stress monitoring, dynamic signatures, and real-time attack mitigation.
- BIG-IP DNS can hyperscale up to 100 million responses per second to manage rapid increases in DNS queries. With multicore scalability, DNS Express, and IP Anycast integration, DNS delivery can handle millions of DNS queries and ensures top application performance for users.
- BIG-IP Advanced WAF defends apps, APIs, and data against the most prevalent attacks such as zero-day vulnerabilities, app-layer DoS attacks, threat campaigns, application takeover, and bots.
Supports Hybrid Deployments and Enhanced Automation
VELOS enables efficient management and scaling of application delivery services to meet increasing demands. It seamlessly bridges the traditional services gap between legacy and modern application architectures by supporting both F5 BIG-IP and BIG-IP Next cloud-native tenants, further realizing the promise of microservices-based architectures. With BIG-IP Next, VELOS enables seamless API integration with cloud providers, promoting consistent application delivery. In addition, supported integrations with Ansible, Terraform, and Kubernetes take advantage of automated deployment workflows, simplifying continuous integration and deployment in hybrid environments. Unifying application delivery and security with modern automation capabilities, organizations can reduce app deployment times from weeks to minutes and significantly improve operational efficiency.
“Service providers and large enterprises are experiencing increased requirements from emerging AI applications, broadband subscriber traffic, and overall application demands, leading to a critical need for increased bandwidth, low latency, and advanced application networking and security capabilities,” said Paul Nicholson, Research VP, Cloud and Datacenter Networks, IDC. “F5 VELOS offers a scalable, high-performance, and consolidated solution that brings together multiple services required into a single solution, such as DNS, firewall, DDoS, CGNAT, TCP, and video optimization capabilities. Performance and flexibility in the datacenter are of strategic importance to enhanced user and emerging AI-based services, while delivering key resilience and fault tolerance to meet business objectives.”
Availability
F5 VELOS is now available as a 16-RU (VELOS CX1610) and a 4-RU (CX410) chassis, each with support for 100 Gbps and 400 Gbps blades, with limited availability for the VELOS CX1610 chassis and BX520 blade. General availability for the new offerings is anticipated during the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.
APM Terminals Pipavav Commends Female Health Initiatives with New Sanitation Facilities
Rajula, Gujarat – March 12, 2025 – APM Terminals Pipavav inaugurated a new sanitation block consisting of waiting lounge and ten units of toilets at Smt. TJBS Girls School, Rajula. The initiative marks a significant step in enhancing hygiene and sanitation facilities for the school’s 1,200 students. The school, which had been providing secondary and senior secondary education for over 63 years, lacked modern sanitation infrastructure until this initiative.
In addition to constructing the sanitation block, APM Terminals Pipavav collaborated with Coastal Salinity Prevention Cell to train students on menstrual hygiene management. This helped inform, educate and sensitise pupils towards health and hygiene education for young girls. These efforts highlighted the company’s consistent focus on community welfare, particularly in education and women empowerment.
Speaking at the inauguration, Seema Ben, Principal of Smt. TJBS Girls School expressed her appreciation and gratitude for APM Terminals Pipavav’s contributions. “The company’s initiatives, especially in education and women’s empowerment, have made a significant impact on our students and the community as a whole,” she said.
Over the past six years, APM Terminals Pipavav has constructed over 3,500 household sanitation units in surrounding villages and a sanitation block at Kumbhariya Primary School. These efforts aligned with the company’s broader vision of improving hygiene and sanitation standards in local communities.
Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit 2025 India Day 1 Highlights
We are bringing you the highlights from the Gartner Security & Risk Management Summit, taking place this week in Mumbai, India. Below is a collection of the key announcements and insights coming out of Day 1 of the conference. Some key announcements include the Gartner opening keynote around turning disruption into cybersecurity opportunities, discussing how to protect APIs from security breaches, and exploring how integrating identity hygiene, security posture management, and identity threat detection and response can enhance organizational resilience.
Key Announcements
- Gartner Keynote: Harness the Hype: Turning Disruption Into Cybersecurity Opportunity – Presented by Deepti Gopal, Director Analyst, Gartner and Dennis Xu, VP Analyst, Gartner
In today’s fast-paced environment, hype — whether fueled by AI, emerging technologies, or the latest cyber attack — can pose a significant risk to strategic business objectives and the crucial partnership between cybersecurity and the broader business. In this session, Deepti Gopal, Director Analyst at Gartner, and Dennis Xu, VP Analyst at Gartner, explored how chief information security officers (CISOs) can exploit the power of hype to drive innovative and adaptable cybersecurity programs.
Key Takeaways
- “Hype can drive organizations to overinvest in unproven technologies or cause cyber and risk teams to slow down excessively, risking missed market opportunities. However, hype often contains a kernel of truth and signals change that cannot be ignored.”
- “Organizations are investing in hyped, cutting-edge technologies like generative AI, and the CISO plays a crucial role in balancing innovation’s rewards and risks by guiding intelligent risk-taking.”
- “ODMs facilitate communication and agreement on protection levels with the business, enabling CISOs to harness hype and deliver mission-driven outcomes.”
- “To harness the hype around AI, build AI literacy with a beginner’s mind, foster critical thinking, and develop AI champions to spearhead AI initiatives.”
- “In cybersecurity, skills shortage and burnout create a vicious cycle, exacerbated by the constant influx of hype that overwhelms teams with change and disruption. Change management and learning agility can help harness this hype, ensuring team resilience.”
2. Protect Your APIs to Avoid Security Breaches – Presented by William Dupre, VP Analyst, Gartner
Cybersecurity attacks leveraging application programming interfaces (APIs) as an attack vector pose a significant threat to organizations and their sensitive data. In this session, William Dupre, VP Analyst at Gartner, discussed strategies for executing API security projects.
Key Takeaways
- “API security breaches are a major concern among organizations, as an average API breach leads to at least 10 times more leaked data than an average security breach, causing more damage.”
- “AI and APIs have a symbiotic relationship, with APIs playing a crucial role in training AI models. This makes securing APIs essential to protect AI systems from unauthorized access and data breaches.”
- Gartner highlighted five steps for setting up an effective API security program:
- Discovery: Inventory all first-and third-party APIs.
- Posture Management: Identify misconfigurations and prioritize remediations.
- Testing: Detect API vulnerabilities through testing techniques.
- Runtime Protection: Monitor for malicious or suspicious behavior in API traffic.
- Access Control: Implement fine-grained API access control.
- “Begin API discovery and posture management with a focus on access control issues.”
- “Anticipate and prepare for the additional workload that comes with implementing behavior-based API runtime protection.”
3. Demystifying the Hype: Identity Security, Posture Management, Threat Detection and Response – Presented by Abhyuday Data, Director Analyst, Gartner
As identity becomes a cornerstone of business enablement, it simultaneously expands the attack surface, making it the leading vector for breaches and highlighting the need for identity-first security. In this session, Abhyuday Data, Director Analyst at Gartner, discussed how integrating identity hygiene, security posture management, and identity threat detection and response (ITDR) can enhance organizational resilience.
Key Takeaways
- “The legacy approach to identity and access management (IAM) fails to address security risk pervasively or in real-time, prompting leaders to shift investments to identity-first security.”
- “Cyberattacks often begin by targeting the identity infrastructure, requiring a defense-in-depth approach to IAM infrastructure that includes prevention, detection, and response.”
- “Security leadership must understand ITDR as a security discipline and reach a consensus on who will serve as the ITDR owner or facilitator.”
- “An IAM leader is accountable for connecting the ITDR initiative into the larger IAM program and deriving business value from it.”
- “Collaborate with security and business teams to leverage insights from various tools, address high-risk issues, and understand their use of identity to explore intersection points.”
That’s a wrap on Day 1! You can view the complete agenda for the second day of the conference i.e. tomorrow here. If any session interests you and you would like to get more insights, you can reach out to us, and we can set up an interaction with the analyst.
Arena Animation Commends Student Talent at Immersive National Meet 2025
Vietnam Airlines Welcomes Growth in India, Adding Bengaluru and Hyderabad Routes
New Delhi, 12th March: Vietnam Airlines, the flag carrier of Vietnam, is proud to announce the launch of direct flights from Bengaluru and Hyderabad to Hanoi, further expanding its footprint in the rapidly growing Indian market. Starting May 2025, the airline will operate four weekly flights from Bengaluru (BLR) and three weekly flights from Hyderabad (HYD) to Hanoi, using its modern Airbus A321 aircraft.
With the addition of Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Vietnam Airlines will now operate from four major Indian cities, including Delhi and Mumbai, further solidifying its presence in the region.
Passengers traveling on the new routes can expect a premium flying experience onboard the Airbus A321, featuring comfortable seating, modern cabin interiors, curated Indian meal options, and Vietnam Airlines’ renowned hospitality. These flights will also provide seamless connectivity from India to popular destinations across Japan, Korea, China, Australia, and ASEAN countries, making travel more convenient for Indian passengers.
Mr. Nguyen Trung Hieu, Country Manager India, Vietnam Airlines, expressed his excitement about the expansion, stating, “India is an extremely important market for Vietnam Airlines and South India has witnessed a surge in demand for travel to Vietnam. We are excited to cater to this growing segment with the launch of direct flights from Bengaluru and Hyderabad. We are reinforcing our commitment to providing world-class service and seamless connectivity for passengers from all parts of India.’’
This strategic expansion marks a major milestone in strengthening air connectivity between India and Vietnam, offering seamless access to one of Southeast Asia’s most dynamic travel destinations. It also reinforces Vietnam Airlines’ commitment to serving the increasing demand for business and leisure travel between the two countries.
Adding to this, Mr. Abhishek Goyal, Executive Director, Aeroprime Group (India GSA, Vietnam Airlines), said, “The expansion into Bengaluru and Hyderabad is a game-changer for Vietnam Airlines in India. These new routes will make travel more convenient for business and leisure travelers alike while offering an enhanced flying experience onboard with world-famous Vietnamese hospitality.”
According to Google Trends, Vietnam was the most searched international destination by Indian travelers in 2023. With the introduction of direct flights from Bengaluru and Hyderabad, Vietnam Airlines aims to further strengthen this travel trend and offer unparalleled convenience to Indian passengers.
evolvAD Nissan-Backed Project Boosts UK Autonomous Driving Readiness
Cranfield, UK – A consortium of five industry partners has successfully completed the UK’s latest autonomous driving (AD) research project – the most rigorous ever in the country.
evolvAD builds on previous Nissan-backed projects in the UK – HumanDrive and ServCity – bringing autonomous mobility closer to reality as part of the company’s global vision for a safer, cleaner and more inclusive world.
It ends an intensive eight-year period during which more than 16,000 autonomous miles were driven across the country’s motorways, urban centres, residential streets and countryside, with zero accidents.
David Moss, Senior Vice President, Region Research & Development for Nissan AMIEO (Africa, Middle East, India, Europe, and Oceania) said: “All three research projects have been tremendously successful in driving our knowledge and understanding of how AD technology performs across challenging driving environments.
“It has been a privilege working with our dedicated partners to advance AD mobility. As well as making driving safer by reducing human error, and cleaner by improving efficiency, this technology can give many more people access to mobility who may not have it today due to location, age or disability.
“Our talented UK team at Nissan Technical Centre Europe in Cranfield will continue developing this technology, and we’re excited to bring AD mobility services to customers in the coming years.”
The successful conclusion of evolvAD prepares for the next phase of AD deployment, which will assess the readiness of cities and regions across the UK for the future introduction of AD systems and services.
Delivered by a consortium of five partners, including Nissan as technical lead, evolvAD was jointly funded by government and the consortium partners. The government’s £100m Intelligent Mobility fund is administered by the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV) and delivered by the UK’s innovation agency, Innovate UK.
Over 21 months, the five partners – Nissan, Connected Places Catapult, Humanising Autonomy, SBD Automotive and TRL – worked to technically support UK supply chain readiness for future mass deployment of AD technologies in the UK.
Nissan is conducting ‘Autonomous mobility service’ research globally in Japan (Nissan Research Centre), the UK (Nissan Technical Centre Europe), and the US (Nissan Advanced Technology Centre, Silicon Valley). This includes the latest ‘Easy Ride’ Serena AD vehicle testing in Yokohama, Japan, where the company is aiming to launch autonomous mobility services.
evolvAD contributes to Nissan’s ongoing global development of autonomous mobility, sharing insights and data to understand how the technology can be tailored to perform safely across different driving conditions worldwide.
During evolvAD, Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CAVs), were tested in various simulators and on private test-tracks before being introduced onto urban residential and rural roads for the most rigorous test of AD technology ever in the UK.
These road types present unique challenges for AD technology, including low speed driving on narrow, single lane roads in urban residential areas. For higher speed routes on winding roads with no markings in rural areas, Nissan has introduced a chassis control system for the AD vehicle to enhance the brakes and steering to allow it to perform as an Advanced Driver.
Using infrastructure such as CCTV on residential streets, the evolvAD CAVs received information to improve situational awareness, creating a unique test study on how vehicle to infrastructure (V2I) can be used to enhance the performance of CAVs, as well as developing all-new V2I technologies.
Robert Bateman, evolvAD Project Manager and Manager of Nissan’s Research and Advanced Engineering team, Nissan Technical Centre Europe (NTCE), said: “Following the successful conclusion of evolvAD and previous projects, we are now shifting towards studying the readiness of the UK to introduce AD systems.
“Again, working with partners, we need to develop a 360-degree understanding of infrastructure and regulatory needs across the country, and provide critical insights to policy-makers and urban planners to ensure a successful introduction of AD mobility services in the right way and at the right time.”
CIS Teachers’ Strong Performance Commends Their Victory at Bergman Mysore Triathlon
Bangalore, March 12, 2025: Canadian International School, Bangalore, teachers Ms. Misti Mokros and Mr. Nicholas McGregor placed 1st each in the 41–50 age group category male and female respectively — at the Bergman Olympic Triathlon held in Mysore recently.
Bergman Triathlon, organised by the Deccan Sports Club (DSC), is a premier endurance sports event in India. Established in 2019 by two triathletes, DSC is a non-profit organisation dedicated to promoting triathlons, duathlons and marathons. The club brings together athletes of all levels, offering events across India and abroad, and is committed to community engagement through various CSR activities.
Their victory at the Bergman Olympic Triathlon came with its own set of challenges. The Olympic triathlon category involves a 1,500-meter swim, a 40-kilometer bike ride and a 10-kilometer run – all of which they conquered with disciplined preparation and mental resilience. “It was a tough course, with extreme terrain and climate, but we gave it everything we had,” said Ms. Misti and Mr. Nicholas.
The couple, who have long been advocates for fitness and student engagement, began their endurance journey in India in 2023 when the CIS community introduced them to the IRONMAN challenge in Goa. Initially intrigued by the event, they soon found themselves forming a CIS team to participate in the Goa IRONMAN. With the support of the school community, they took on the challenge despite not having prior experience in long-distance triathlons. “We weren’t in the best shape when we moved to India two years ago. We always try to stay somewhat fit, but we weren’t in great shape. The wide variety of endurance competitions in India gave us the motivation to push ourselves further,” said Mr. Nicholas.
From that first experience, their passion for endurance sports only grew. They began training rigorously, participating in various triathlons and endurance races across India, including the Devil’s Circuit, Yoddha and Spartan races. Their journey became more than personal – it turned into a family and community movement.
“We run at the lake, we bike at another lake, and we started noticing more CIS parents and children getting involved,” said Ms. Misti. “It’s become a whole-family affair and that’s what motivates us. Our kids see us training, and now they want to join in. It’s important for them to understand that you don’t have to stop just because you’re 40 or 50; you can keep doing it and still be successful.”
Beyond their personal achievements, their commitment to fitness has had a lasting impact on the CIS community. In just two years, they have built a thriving track team at CIS from scratch, growing it to nearly 60 athletes. Their dedication continues to inspire students to push their own limits, instilling in them the mindset that success – whether in sports, academics or life – requires consistent effort and perseverance.
“At Canadian International School (CIS), nurture, challenge and empower are at the heart of our community. It is truly inspiring to see our teachers not only uphold these values but also serve as real-life role models, motivating our students every day. As a triathlete myself, I am inspired by the achievements of Misti and Nicholas – it exemplifies dedication, resilience and the relentless pursuit of excellence”, commented Ms. Shweta Sastri, Managing Director, Canadian International School, Bangalore.
“You don’t just wake up and win races. You train, you struggle, you push through and then you succeed,” the couple emphasised. “We want our students to see that hard work pays off, whether it’s in the classroom, on the track or in life.”
Their journey is a powerful reminder that discipline, resilience and the courage to challenge oneself can lead to incredible achievements. As they prepare for future races, they continue to inspire not just their students, but an entire school community to embrace an active and determined lifestyle
Bessemer Commends India’s Startup Ecosystem with dollar 350 Million Fund Raise
Bangalore, 12th March 2025 – Bessemer Venture Partners today announced the close of $350 million in capital for its second dedicated India fund, reinforcing the firm’s long-standing commitment to backing founders in the region as they build enduring companies.
The new fund will enhance the firm’s focus on early-stage investments, across AI-enabled services and SaaS, fintech, digital health, direct-to-consumer brands, and cybersecurity. Bessemer has a long-standing history of partnering with companies early and supporting them through their growth. More than 80 percent of its investments in India over the last five years have been in early-stage companies.
Speaking on the fund raise, Vishal Gupta, Partner and Managing Director of the firm’s Bangalore office said, “This fund deepens our commitment to India’s startup ecosystem as we continue backing the next generation of entrepreneurs building technology-led businesses. We remain focused on identifying and investing in founders who are driving innovation, solving complex challenges, and building market-defining companies. Beyond providing capital, we bring deep sector expertise, a global network, and hands-on support to help founders navigate their growth journeys and scale sustainably.”
Bessemer Partner Anant Vidur Puri added, “India is at the forefront of the AI-driven transformation, with founders building domestic as well as globally-competitive businesses across enterprise software, fintech, and consumer technology. As AI adoption accelerates, we see immense opportunities for innovation, and this fund allows us to back entrepreneurs shaping the next phase of India’s digital economy.”
Bessemer first established its India presence nearly two decades ago in 2006 and has since invested in more than 80 startups in the country. The partnership’s strategy centres around being patient, long-term partners to visionary founders from the early stages. The firm has a history of taking a roadmap-driven investment approach that enables its investors to build conviction in emerging areas across industries before they become obvious, and better help founders navigate evolving industry landscapes. This approach has led Bessemer to invest early in shifts in the market like the onset of the mobile revolution, India’s digital infrastructure, and its healthcare revolution, resulting in investments such as Urban Company, Perfios, and Medi Assist.
The firm’s first dedicated India fund backed notable startups including Boldfit, MoveInSync, Pepper Content, Shopdeck, Vetic, and Zopper, while its broader portfolio includes category leaders like BigBasket, Livspace, Perfios, Swiggy, and Urban Company. The firm has also seen nine IPOs within its India portfolio.
With investment teams positioned across five countries, Bessemer is a globally integrated platform that is committed to supporting innovative startups and fostering the next generation of industry leaders
NSE Clearing Ltd Reaffirms ‘CRISIL AAA/Stable’ for 17th Year
Mumbai, 12 March 2025: NSE Clearing Limited (NSE Clearing), has received reaffirmation of its credit rating of ‘‘CRISIL AAA/Stable” from CRISIL. ‘‘CRISIL AAA/Stable” rating indicates the highest degree of strength with regards to honouring debt obligations. NSE Clearing is a wholly owned subsidiary of NSE. As per CRISIL, the rating reflects NSE Clearing’s “strategic importance to, and the strong support from, its parent, National Stock Exchange of India Ltd (NSE)”. The rating also factor in NSE Clearing’s “comfortable capital position and comprehensive risk management systems”.
CRISIL has stated that “The systems are regularly upgraded to pre-empt market failures”. CRISIL has reaffirmed the outlook for NSE Clearing as “Stable” and states that, “NSE Clearing will maintain its strong market position due to its association with NSE and will sustain its comprehensive risk management systems and adequate core SGF commensurate with the clearing volumes, over the medium term.” On an ongoing basis, NSE Clearing continues to address the risks in clearing and settlement with its stringent norms for selection of members, robust margining system, and risk-based position limits and surveillance mechanism.
PhonePe Celebrates Milestone: 600 Million Registered Users and Counting
March 12,2025:PhonePe, today announced that it has crossed 600 million (60 crore) registered users on its platform. This marks a significant milestone for the company, which will celebrate its 10-year anniversary this year, and has grown to serve hundreds of millions of customers with its financial services and technology solutions.
PhonePe’s consistent enhancement of its product and service offerings, combined with growing customer preference for the platform, has contributed to reaching this milestone. The company’s development of a secure payment system focused on reliability, speed, and personalized transaction experiences has gained traction among millions of users. This growth can also be attributed to PhonePe’s widespread adoption across its merchant network throughout the country, creating a robust digital payment ecosystem that serves both consumers and businesses alike.
Speaking about the milestone, Sameer Nigam, Co-founder & CEO, of PhonePe said, “Reaching 60 crore registered users is a proud moment for all of us at PhonePe. Every milestone we achieve brings us a step closer to realizing our vision of building a truly inclusive financial ecosystem. We will continue building homegrown solutions to meet the evolving needs of our users and help drive India’s digital transformation.”