Only a few weeks remain for the Fall season to officially set in, and it's still quite hot in Chicago. The fast approaching F5 Agility event is further adding a sizzle to the conference scene at the Chicago Downtown Hyatt Regency.  August is the most popular season to visit Chicago and we are seeing a sold-out attendance at the F5 Agility event this year. Join us to learn about the future of application delivery, share best-practices with influential decision-makers, connect with technology leaders, and have some fun at the Agility closing gala at the House of Blues.

During Aug 2-4, we are going tohear F5's leaders, customers, and partners share how the latest solutions from F5 are transforming what's possible for today's organizations. In about two years, CiscoACIand F5 partnership has demonstrated significant success in our joint solution momentum and customer adoption. I am pleased to invite you all to attend this premier industry event and get insights on howF5 and Cisco are bringing the power of cloud, security, data centers, converged systems, and as-a-Service together to enable fast, efficient, and secure application delivery in today's challenging hybrid environments.

F5 CEO John McAdam will kick-off Agility and share his worldview and how F5 is gearing up for future success in today's increasingly app-centric world. Following John, F5's EVP of Worldwide Sales, John DiLullo and SVP F5 Services Ian Jones will focus on the latest security issues and hybrid cloud potential. We then have F5's Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Product Development Karl Triebes, who will take an in-depth look at F5's vision and product roadmap.

This year we have two guest keynotes. Mike Ebeling, CEO of Not impossible Labs, and Mike Ditka, legendary football coach and TV commentator are here to entertain you and highlight the key characteristics people need to achieve their personal and professional goals.

And now let's segue to Cisco Sponsor breakouts. Cisco Exec Daniel McGinniss is hosting a business breakout session titled "Deliver Application Agility with Cisco Application Centric Infrastructure" Aug 4, 1 pm local time. What's unique about this Breakout Session? Well, you will get to not only hear Daniel eloquently walk you through the role of Cisco ACI in today's Application-Oriented Economy, but also see Mark Wall from WWT join him on stage and share their success stories with ACI.  Daniel will discuss the challenges companies face to achieve successful digital transformation, and how the ability to develop, deploy, and fine-tune applications is critical in that journey. Daniel will then introduce Cisco ACI, an open, scalable, programmable SDN solution that helps address these infrastructure challenges. Daniel will illustrate how Cisco ACI enables rapid application deployment, reduces cost and complexity via a unified policy approach, delivers compliance, and accelerates customers along their cloud journey. Daniel's breakout as I said earlier, also features a unique Partner segment towards the end. Mark Wall, Chief Architect from WWT, will join Daniel on stage to share their ACI experiences. How often do you get this comprehensive experience in a breakout session, one that is devoid of a sales pitch. Sounds great, doesn't it?

For the technically oriented among you, we also have a technical breakout session by Cisco, Aug 4, 10.15 AM local time. This session covers the integration architecture, value-props, and openness of the platform that the joint Cisco ACI-F5 solution brings to customers and partners. We are also offering a 4 hour Lab session featuring Cisco ACI and F5, 1- 5 PM, Michigan 1B. Hands-on experts from Cisco and F5 will be present to help you get deep and technical.

That is not all. Cisco ACI brings you additional customer engagement opportunity in the solutions expo hall. We are featuring cool demos showcasing our joint solutions namely, ACI-BIG IP and ACI-iWorkflow on both Aug 3 and 4, during the duration of the expo hours. Stop by the Cisco booth where our product experts are available to engage in white-board sessions and to compliment the demos, we also run short duration presentations in the Cisco theatre at periodic intervals. Should you desire, we are happy to meet you in 1-1 meetings, so let us know how we can enrich your experience at the event

For all the hard work we all do at the event, there is plenty F5 offers to let us relax and enjoy. This year we are taking over the House of Blues in Chicago. This institution grew out of founder Isaac Tigrett's love for the unique American art form known as "the Blues". Join F5 Networks as we close the evening with good food and drink plus three great shows. Be there to get your special F5 Agility 2016: House of Blues Star Guitar t-shirt.

Entertainment includes:

Network with your fellow attendees while enjoying tasty food and drink, entertaining music, knowledgeable guides, and more are awaiting you on Aug 2.

I am eager to see you all in Chicago next week. There are some useful links for you to check out before your visit on how Cisco ACI and F5 work together on the innovation front.

For more information, Visit www.cisco.com/go/acif5

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