F5 has acquired MantisNet, a specialist in eBPF-based network telemetry for cloud-native environments. The acquisition is intended to help organizations transition to container architectures without sacrificing visibility.
By integrating MantisNet’s technology into F5’s cloud-native solutions, customers can now expect higher levels of observability across user, control, and application layers, from telecom to government.
The combination of MantisNet’s low-latency telemetry with F5’s cloud-native network functions (CNFs) and analytics provides IT teams with a powerful automation fabric. This enables differentiating services to be rolled out faster and more securely in 5G, internal apps, customer-facing platforms, and multi-tenant environments.
Container monitoring under the microscope
Companies are moving en masse to cloud-native technologies for greater agility and scalability. However, this shift brings challenges, especially when monitoring encrypted traffic in container environments.
Traditional monitoring tools are not designed for the temporary and encrypted nature of container traffic. This is where MantisNet comes in. The company uses extended Berkeley Packet Filter (eBPF) technology to provide real-time insights into encrypted network traffic without compromising performance.
“Traditional tools are like street-corner cameras; they capture activity, but only in limited areas and with blind spots. MantisNet works more like an intelligent satellite or a smart system built directly into the roads,” explains F5 in the acquisition announcement.
At the heart of MantisNet is the Containerized Visibility Fabric (CVF). This lightweight and scalable system provides kernel-level insights and real-time telemetry. It eliminates the need for sidecars or agents, which improves performance in dynamic environments.
Direct access to encrypted sessions
With the acquisition, F5 customers will soon be able to gain insight into encrypted sessions, including metadata and pre-encryption context from TLS 1.3. The platform automates policy enforcement by sending real-time insights directly to BIG-IP Policy Enforcement Manager or BIG-IP Advanced Firewall Manager.
In addition, the system meets compliance requirements through programmatic packet capture and historical flow retention. It also secures east-west traffic within containers, which legacy tools typically overlook.
By building visibility deep into the stack and linking it to enforcement and analytics, customers get a complete, automated pipeline from insight to action.