F5's new entry-level ARX1500 and midrange ARX2500 appliances are both 1U (1.75 in.) in height.

The follow-up to the ARX500, the ARX1500 costs about the same as its predecessor but comes with eight Gigabit Ethernet ports -- up from two ports on the ARX500, according to Renny Shen, F5's product marketing manager. F5 would not disclose specific pricing for the new products, but it said devices start at $30,000 on the low end and go to $200,000 on the high end.

The ARX1500 file virtualization appliance.

"We think it will appeal to a lot of organizations for whom the ARX500 was really too small," Shen said.

Depending on the software license purchased with the ARX1500, the appliance can scale from 1,500 to 3,000 end users, Shen said.