Partner content Emerging generative AI and real-time machine learning (ML) initiatives challenge traditional centralized data architectures.
Enterprises today face performance bottlenecks, high network costs, latency issues, and increased security complexity in ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) pipelines.
This article explains how organizations can leverage F5’s BIG-IP platform and potent edge programmability through iRules scripting at strategic insertion points in the infrastructure. Benefits include dramatically lower latency, higher cost efficiencies, improved security posture, clearer observability, and impactful strategic differentiation through more agile, responsive AI operations.
AI’s demands and performance expectations disrupt key IT infrastructure and application delivery assumptions. The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) and hybrid IT environments has significantly increased application delivery and security complexity.
In today’s AI-driven enterprises, data factories have evolved into complex ecosystems; vast amounts of data traverse advanced ETL pipelines before landing in modern datalakehouses. These architectures have become essential foundations of machine learning operations (MLOps) and GenAI, yet they present substantial operational challenges.
AI workloads are computationally intensive—rapidly and continuously processing data to support real-time decisions. GenAI applications demand sophisticated application delivery control, requiring real-time load balancing, throughput and reduced latency.
Traditional datalakehouse architectures gather data from multiple sources, centrally transform it, and store it for AI consumption. Companies like Snowflake, Databricks, and Delta Lake built robust solutions offering essential features like ACID transactions, schema enforcement, and time travel capabilities.
However, the centralized approach now faces significant limitations:
- Network bandwidth saturation
- High latency impacting real-time applications
- Increased storage costs due to redundant data
- Complexity managing data movement operations
- Heightened security and compliance challenges
AI applications significantly increase operations, security teams, and Site Reliability Engineering (SRE) workloads, requiring faster scaling and enhanced network and API control.
App delivery shifts in AI data infrastructure – the edge processing revolution
AI data infrastructure growth increases network traffic (East-West and North-South). The outbound North-South path, primarily driven by AI workloads, emerges as a new strategic control point complementing the traditional inbound paths.
Application delivery and security solutions must now strategically address efficiency, reduce costs, and increase effectiveness at critical control margin points. Real-time API security and improved observability become vital elements of robust AI data infrastructure.
Edge programmability using F5 BIG-IP and iRules offers a powerful solution to these escalating complexities—enabling enterprises to process critical ETL pipeline tasks at the network edge, significantly lowering latency and cost while enhancing security.
Programmability and infrastructure as code
Organizations must support multi-cloud environments, ensure real-time observability, and provide robust data-processing capabilities aligned to dynamic GenAI workloads such as intensive model training and inference.
GenAI intersecting with DevOps reshapes automation in areas such as AI-assisted troubleshooting and incident resolution. Operational management now requires deep programmability, integration, and orchestration, increasingly using infrastructure-as-code (IaC) principles.
Leveraging the programmability of the BIG-IP application delivery controller platform, combined with iRules scripting capabilities, optimizes key ETL workflows within modern, continuously evolving infrastructures. iRules provides simple yet powerful network programming scripts that intelligently control traffic flow, request inspection, session management, and content modification.
F5’s BIG-IP platform supports per-application partitioning, aligning well with IaC practices. Customizable iRules code empowers architects to control and dynamically scale network behaviour and effectively support new protocols and methodologies.
iRule shapes app delivery, security for AI workloads
Programmable network infrastructure revolutionizes data flow within AI ETL pipelines. iRules scripts deploy sophisticated logic, shifting data processing tasks closer to sources. This decentralized approach alleviates network bottlenecks, dramatically reducing latency, bandwidth use, and storage overhead, directly optimizing overall operations.
iRules allows analysis and detection of various aspects of network traffic. Application-specific code can be version-managed through infrastructure-as-code integration, accelerating secure and compliant continuous deployment.
To ensure optimal application delivery outcomes within diverse AI workloads, real-time security policy enforcement, request validation, header rewriting, URL modifications, and advanced protocol routing are achievable through BIGIP iRules deployments.
iRule’s flexibility optimizes ETL processes
Applying edge programmability with F5’s iRules scripting provides significant operational advantages, including:
- Intelligent edge data filtering: Real-time filtering of irrelevant or low-value data at ingress points dramatically reduces unnecessary data transport and storage needs—lowering overall costs.
- Real-time data transformations: Initial data normalization, format conversions, basic quality checks, or preliminary feature engineering performed at network entry points significantly relieve central ETL processes.
- Intelligent routing and distribution: Intelligent decisions about data routing based on data content, priority, and model requirements optimize resource usage and create localized data lakehouse-like architectures to benefit real-time AI workflows.
Enhanced visibility provided by the BIG-IP platform ensures seamless deployment, monitoring strict compliance with organizational policies and supporting streamlined operational management.
Programmability made for AI data infrastructures
Programmability provides a powerful, development-oriented solution for real-time network traffic management. BIG-IP and iRules offer wire-speed parsing, inspection, logging, redirection, payload modification, and API management capabilities, drastically elevating AI infrastructure customization, control, and automation.
With robust observability built into BIG-IP, deployment monitoring tools highlight operational insights, audit trails, and simplified troubleshooting necessary for growing enterprises managing the complexity of AI and data environments.
Programmability is also integral to DevOps practices, enabling continuous infrastructure delivery, automated deployment workflows, and seamless integration with agile development practices.
Strategic differentiation through edge orogrammability
Strategically incorporating edge programmability and iRules scripting for optimized ETL processes differentiates organizations. By delivering substantially lower latency, improved real-time responsiveness reduced total cost of ownership (TCO), and enhanced compliance and security posture, organizations can accelerate their AI innovation cycles and respond faster to market changes, creating meaningful competitive advantages in their industry.
Contributed by F5
