NetScaler Pushes Performance

With the NetWorld + Interop conference less than a week away, the security and networking vendors are already cranking out new products as the industry moves into one of the busiest times of the year.

Obviously keen to get ahead of the game, NetScaler Inc.will launch a range of enhancements for its flagship 9000 Series of application delivery products this week. These include an improved policy engine (AppExpert) as well as features for application compression (AppCompress), and application caching (AppCache) .

So, what do these do? NetScaler claims that AppExpert increases the 9000s ability to delve into application requests and response payloads; AppCompress lets users accelerate all TCP-based applications, in addition to just HTTP; AppCache aims to boost performance by improving the 9000 Series’ caching of application data -- essentially, analyzing the HTTP message body as part of the cache process, enabling support for a broader range of forms-based applications.

Effective delivery of applications is a major challenge for data center managers at the moment, particularly given the Internet’s latency issues. Compression eliminates bandwidth bottlenecks, and caching removes the need to direct application requests to the server.

NetScaler is not the only vendor with its eye on this market. Other players, such as Redline Networks Inc. and Cisco Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: CSCO) are also keen to attack this space.Peter Christy, principal of NetsEdge Research Group, notes that NetScaler has gotten a bit of an edge on larger competitors such as Cisco by placing applications at the heart of its strategy.

He says, "Cisco could do anything, but has so far stayed away from application-level knowledge."

The NetScaler announcement is a positive move, according to Christy. “NetScaler has done a good job of listening to the customers and evolving the product,” he says.

— James Rogers, Site Editor, Next-gen Data Center Forum