F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) is expected to benefit immensely from growing Internet traffic. F5′s BIG-IP product family represents the majority of its sales and it supports a growing number of features and functions available as software modules and standalone applications. F5′s products and services are purchased by a wide variety of enterprises in technology, telecommunications, financial services, transportation, education, manufacturing, healthcare and the government sectors.
2. Shift to cloud-based services
Research firm Forrester projects the global market for cloud computing will increase from $41 billion in 2011 to $241 billion by 2020. Large corporations are increasingly turning to external third-party cloud providers for services and storage to lower their capital and operating costs.
To accommodate the dynamic needs of their clients, cloud providers are building large virtualized data centers to store clients’ data. The large amount of data is difficult to manage and costly to maintain. Such centralized file storage can slow access for remote users and applications. F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV)’s ARX product family of file virtualization solutions represents a unique set of capabilities that optimize the performance and utilization of network-attached storage systems.
Cisco: Rated buy at Deutsche Bank
As per research done by Cisco Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:CSCO), the current data traffic in data centers is in the zettabyte range and by 2016 it’s expected to quadruple to 6.6 zettabytes annually. To capitalize on this, Cisco announced its networking strategy at Cisco Live with Open Network Environment, which includes an SDK and API called onePK for routing and switching platforms, such as the Integrated Services Router G2, Aggregation Services Router, Cloud Services Router and Nexus data center switches.
With Cisco selling physical and virtual networking, integrating the Nexus 1000v with multiple hypervisors and writing a module for Quantum support, it looks like the market leader in networking could also be a good bet for long-term investors. Cisco is rated buy at Deutsche Bank, with a $24 price target. The Thomson First Call consensus for the networking giant is also $24.
Conclusion
I feel encouraged by the rapid deployment of Juniper Networks, Inc. (NYSE:JNPR)’s networking products and services by organizations and government verticals to meet growing business demand. On the other hand, F5 Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ:FFIV) is well-positioned in the networking space and ready to capitalize on much of the worldwide spending on information technology. Both the two stocks are poised to outperform the broader market in 2013 and I would recommend buying the stocks on dips.
The article These Two Networking Giants Are Poised to Outperform originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Anindya Batabyal.
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