F5 and NVIDIA enhance AI infrastructure with BlueField-3 DPUs

PARIS - F5 (NASDAQ:FFIV), a technology company with an impressive market capitalization of $16.87 billion and maintaining "GREAT" financial health according to InvestingPro metrics, announced new capabilities for its BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes platform accelerated with NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs, following validation by European AI infrastructure operator Sesterce.

The solution delivers traffic management and security for AI infrastructure, with Sesterce’s validation showing a 20% improvement in GPU utilization. The integration supports NVIDIA Dynamo and KV Cache Manager to reduce latency for large language model inference systems. F5’s strong market position is reflected in its robust gross profit margin of 80.9% and steady revenue growth of 5.61% over the last twelve months.

Key capabilities include intelligent LLM routing on BlueField DPUs, allowing traffic to be directed to appropriate models based on task complexity. The solution also provides scaling and security for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers and data programmability through F5’s iRules.

"Our results underline the benefits of F5’s dynamic load balancing with high-volume Kubernetes ingress and egress in AI environments," said Youssef El Manssouri, CEO and Co-Founder at Sesterce.

The collaboration enables offloading specific operations from CPUs to BlueField DPUs. With F5, the Dynamo KV Cache Manager can route requests based on capacity, using Key-Value caching to accelerate generative AI processes.

"BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes accelerated with NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs gives enterprises and service providers a single point of control for efficiently routing traffic to AI factories," said Ash Bhalgat, Senior Director of AI Networking and Security Solutions at NVIDIA.

The solution also enhances security for MCP servers, serving as a reverse proxy while providing adaptability for evolving AI protocol requirements.

F5 BIG-IP Next for Kubernetes deployed on NVIDIA BlueField-3 DPUs is now generally available, according to the company’s press release statement. The stock currently trades near its 52-week high of $313, though analysis suggests it may be slightly overvalued. Discover more detailed insights and 8 additional key ProTips about F5’s performance in the comprehensive Pro Research Report, available exclusively on InvestingPro.

In other recent news, F5 Networks reported strong financial results for the second quarter of 2025, exceeding analyst expectations with an earnings per share (EPS) of $3.42 and revenue of $731 million. This marks a 7% year-over-year increase in total revenue, driven by a 12% rise in product revenue and a notable 27% increase in systems revenue. Despite a flat performance in software revenue, F5 Networks has raised its full-year 2025 revenue and EPS guidance, anticipating double-digit growth in systems and software revenue. Needham initiated coverage of F5 Networks with a Buy rating and a price target of $320, citing robust demand for private cloud capacity and a favorable refresh cycle of legacy products. In contrast, Goldman Sachs maintained a Neutral rating with a $300 price target, noting the company’s earnings beat was aided by lower taxes and unexpected other income. Additionally, F5 announced the integration of NGINX Plus with Red Hat Enterprise Linux for FIPS compliance, enhancing its application security offerings. These developments reflect F5 Networks’ strategic positioning and adaptability in an evolving market landscape.

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