F5 Networks Shows First-Quarter Growth

That compares with earnings of $500,000 on revenue of $27.1 million in the same quarter a year ago and earnings of $1.4 million on revenue of $13.6 million in its 2003 fourth quarter.

F5 President and CEO John McAdam said surprisingly strong sales in two areas accounted for the positive showing. The company surpassed all analyst forecasts for sales on its newly acquired FirePass SSL VPN technology, which accounted for more than 5 percent of product sales overall. The company also exceeded analyst expectations in sales of its core traffic management business, he said.

"During the past several quarters, we've seen increasing returns from our ongoing investments in product development and our focus on enterprise customers," McAdam said during the firm's quarterly earnings call. "Growing demand for our core products and services is evidence that enterprises are increasingly aware of the benefits of application traffic management."

Looking forward, F5 executives said they expected the company's growth to continue. McAdam set a target range of $37 million to $39 million in revenue for F5's second quarter.