The engineer behind the proxy.

Approxee is a company, not a person, but there's a person behind it. Here's why it exists, who runs it, and why it will only ever take three clients.

The Approxee story

I built Approxee after many years working with organisations that rely on experienced F5 BIG-IP engineers. F5 specialists are difficult to find, and traditional contracting can create the same challenges again and again:

You often pay for time rather than workload. During quieter periods, you either continue paying for capacity you may not need or end the contract and lose the continuity that came with it.
Knowledge leaves with the engineer. When another contractor arrives later, they may have to spend time learning the same environment again.
Different engineers bring different approaches. One may prefer AS3, another the CLI, while another may work primarily through the GUI. None is necessarily wrong, but over time the estate can become a mixture of configuration methods, naming conventions and working practices.

Approxee was designed to offer a different approach. Instead of hiring an F5 contractor for a fixed period, you have access to an experienced F5 specialist when you need one. You send the work you would normally give to a contractor, and it is completed one request at a time, using a consistent approach and with each piece of work properly documented.

If things become quiet, you can pause. When you return, I still understand your environment and retain the relevant architecture, designs and documentation, but never your passwords or credentials. That means we can continue from where we left off rather than starting again.

Approxee is deliberately not a managed service. I don't monitor your estate, I don't take control of your infrastructure, and your internal team remains responsible for the environment. Approxee provides experienced F5 expertise in much the same way a contractor would, carrying out the work you need while fitting into your existing team and processes, but through a more flexible and consistent model.

I also keep Approxee intentionally small, with a maximum of three clients at any one time. I never take on two engagements of the same type at the same time. For example:

Three engagement slots: BAU (ongoing operational F5 support), Architecture and Design (design, improvement and transformation), and Project Delivery (a migration or defined project). One client each, never two of the same type.

I would not take on two separate BAU engagements and try to divide the same kind of day-to-day attention between them.

That balance allows me to stay personally involved with every environment and give each client the attention their work requires. It also protects the continuity that the service is designed around.

The person who learns your environment is the same person who works on it next month, next quarter and the next time you need help.

Why Approxee

A fully qualified F5 specialist, exactly when you need one.

Finding the right F5 expertise is hard. Certified, experienced BIG-IP engineers are scarce, so teams often bring in the strongest person available at the time rather than the exact specialism the work needed. Approxee gives you another route: a fully qualified, 401-certified F5 specialist you can call on when the work is there and pause when it is not, all through the procurement channel you already use.

Subscribe and unsubscribe as you need. Turn the service on when the work is there, and pause it when it is not.
Always through an agency, on your PSL. The same procurement route you use for any contractor, with no new supplier to set up.
Fully qualified, every time. A 401-certified F5 Certified Solution Expert in Security, not the best of a short list.
A quick route to impact. Straight to an F5 specialist who can deliver from the first request.
Everything documented. Each request is finished and written up, and can include training or knowledge transfer wherever it helps.
Come and go, like a contractor. Engage when you want and return when you want; it works exactly like a contractor, simply through an agency.
Maximum three clients at any one time. So the person who did the work is the person who answers the question.

Who's behind it

13+ years on BIG-IP. 401-certified.

The fulfilment behind Approxee is a single F5 401-certified engineer, F5 Certified Solution Expert, Security, with over thirteen years of hands-on BIG-IP delivery across enterprise estates.

F5 Certified Solution Expert, Security (401)

The proof

CV, certifications, and the clients on the books.

My CV

Over thirteen years of BIG-IP delivery, the estates, the modules, the outcomes. Read it here or take the PDF to procurement.

Read the CV

My Exams

The full F5 certification stack, led by the 401, F5 Certified Solution Expert, Security, with certificate numbers and verification links.

See certifications

Ongoing Customers

Not "previous" customers: in a come-and-go model, nobody's previous, they're paused. The organisations Approxee holds documentation for.

See the customers

Three slots, ever

Want the fourth conversation?

Three clients at a time is the whole point. If the slots are full, the waitlist is how you're first in line.

Check availability See what you'd get