Apps acceleration market in flux

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: OPTICAL NETWORKING
08/01/05

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* A run on acquisitions of WAN/LAN acceleration vendors is
  causing confusion
* Links related to Optical Networking
* Featured reader resource
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Cisco Systems
Efficient and Flexible Transport of Next-Generation Data
Services over SONET/SDH using GFP, VCAT, and LCAS

Service providers today face an increasing number of challenges
in addressing customer demand for new services while continuing
to deliver traditional voice and private line services. This
white paper offers an overview of the benefits three stable and
mature technologies - GFP, VCAT and LCAS - bring to SONET/SDH
networks, thereby allowing service providers to extract greater
value from their networks. Read this white paper today!
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=108918
_______________________________________________________________
FREE NETWORK WORLD PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR NETWORK WORLD
e-NEWSLETTER SUBSCRIBERS

SUBSCRIBE TODAY - Receive 51 complimentary issues of Network
World Magazine. Network World delivers an extensive line-up of
product, service and industry news, comparative product reviews,
product tests, technology insiders, expert opinions and
management advice
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=109082
_______________________________________________________________

Today's focus: Apps acceleration market in flux

By Phil Hochmuth

A run on acquisitions of WAN/LAN acceleration vendors is causing
confusion for those exploring the technology, which promises to
speed key corporate applications, experts say.

But those with such gear already up and running have few
complaints.

Just as this market's picture was becoming clearer, Juniper,
Cisco and Citrix shook the Etch-A-Sketch. Juniper bought
emerging application acceleration vendors RedLine and Peribit in
April for a combined $469 million, while Cisco bought WAN
traffic accelerator FineGround for $70 million. And in a move
counter to the norm in the networking market, software vendor
Citrix, which sells terminal server/thin-client hosting
software, bought out NetScaler , a high-end Layer
4-7/application acceleration box maker, for $300 million.

When tallied up, the buyouts equal 86% of the 2004 application
acceleration market.

Ties between hardware and software vendors also tightened more
recently, as F5 last week announced a deal where Oracle will
provide full support for customers accelerating Oracle databases
on F5 gear. Additionally, Cisco launched an entirely new
business unit around speeding up corporate apps through hardware
- Application Oriented Networking - and partnered with IBM, SAP,
Tibco and other software vendors in the effort.

One of the challenges of the application acceleration vendors
has been defining exactly what their products plug into and what
they do. Some, such as NetScaler and RedLine, offer devices that
sit in front of banks of servers and provide multiple services,
such as Layer 4-7 switching and load balancing, HTTP and
non-Web-based traffic compression, as well as SSL VPN services
and TCP/IP connection termination. Other gear, such as Peribit
and FineGround devices, sit on both ends of a WAN link and
optimize traffic for remote sites connected to a corporate data
center - providing compression and security features.

According to Gartner, the market for these products came into
its own last year when it reached $967 million worldwide.
Acceleration gear, which sits only in a data center, accounted
for more than half that amount, while WAN optimization products,
which are deployed in both the data center and remote locations,
made up the balance.

As customers install more of these products, and large
networking vendors integrate the services into current gear, the
various functions these devices provide - TCP/IP connection
management, SSL offload, caching and compression - will be
consolidated, experts say.

"Over time [these] functions will converge onto a single
platform," says Joe Skorupa, principal analyst at Gartner. "The
trend toward platforms that deliver four or more functions will
accelerate as customers strive to simplify their
infrastructure."

In the meantime, the spate of acquisitions in the market is
causing confusion among potential buyers of application
acceleration technology, some say. This could make it hard for
vendors, especially some of the more established independent
vendors still remaining, such as F5, Radware and Packeteer, to
sell this technology.

"We have seen a lot of confusion with our customers, resellers
and value-added distributors, as they sought to get a better
understanding of the recent changes in the market," says Radware
President and CEO Roy Zisapel. Earlier this month, the company
warned it would miss Wall Street earnings expectations,
attributing the rough times "primarily to the recent acquisition
activity in the overall application-networking space."

Other recent reports by market analysts say there is huge
potential in the market, but more intense competition since
Juniper and Cisco entered the game. A recent report by
investment research firm Piper Jaffry calls the acceleration
market "one of the best-performing sectors within the networking
universe'' but also said it would be rough going for vendors
such as F5 until the dust settles.

Standard and Poor's Equity Research concurs, adding in a report
that the Cisco, Juniper and Citrix deals "have disrupted the
competitive environment through delaying customer buying
decisions."

"We haven't heard of any confusion with our customers or
potential customers," says Jason Needham, director of product
management for F5. "I think the acquisitions in the market have
shown that this technology is of high value to customers. More
people are seeing the value of planning their network
architecture with applications in mind."

Customers running acceleration gear up say the payback on such
equipment is immediate.

Serono, a Switzerland-based biotech firm, has 5,000 employees,
with more than a quarter of them working remotely in 50 sites
across 40 countries. The firm last year installed devices from
RedLine networks to front its key application servers, which
deliver e-mail, Siebel CRM applications and other software via
Web-based interfaces and portals.

The traffic compression the RedLine device provides has boosted
response time of the company's Web-based applications while
freeing up bandwidth over its WAN pipes, according to Rael
Paster, head of collaboration services at Serono.

"We saw a 93% performance gain over our WAN links" after turning
on traffic compression, Paster says.

Companies that have installed acceleration gear also praise the
technology for its load-balancing and advanced features for
handling IP addresses.

Devices from NetScaler were recently installed at ProHealthcare,
a healthcare management company in Waukesha, Wis., with more
than 5,000 employees. Instead of pushing applications out to
remote users over the Web, ProHealthcare was moving its LAN and
campuses-based patient management system, supplied by IDX, from
green-screen terminal emulation to a browser-based interface.

The trick, says Cynthia Overby, manager of network services, was
making the organization's high-end HP Himalaya mainframe act
more like a Web server. When the application was switched from
green-screen window on PCs to browsers, the Himalaya still
handled the clients like terminal-emulated clients; the
mainframe required a fixed IP address linking the PC and the
server.

"This slowed down performance by about 30%" vs. the old
green-screen application, Overby says. It also limited the
number of connections to 2,456, which was the limit of IP-based
clients the mainframe could handle. Putting a NetScaler box in
front of the Himalaya allowed IP addresses to be dynamically
distributed and eliminated cap on the number of client
connections. The device also balanced the traffic load of IDX
packets among the seven IDX server instances running on the
mainframe, Overby says. Compression helps, too, shrinking the
browser-based traffic, which has freed up LAN bandwidth by 25%.
The NetScaler device also provides SSL traffic encryption,
required by federal law for patient records. This has freed up
CPU cycles on the Himalaya to process more IDX application bits.
"All of this greatly improved the overall performance of the
system," Overby says.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Furor over Cisco IOS router exploit erupts at Black Hat
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical4138>

2. Cisco, ISS, Michael Lynn and Black Hat sign legal accord
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical4139>

3. Researcher at center of Cisco router-exploit controversy
speaks out <http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical4140>

4. 2005 Salary Survey
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical4002>

5. Cisco nixes conference session on hacking IOS router code
<http://www.networkworld.com/nloptical4141>
_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Phil Hochmuth

Phil Hochmuth is a Network World Senior Editor and a former
systems integrator. You can reach him at
<mailto:phochmut@nww.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
This newsletter is sponsored by Avocent
Network World Executive Guide: Reviewing Trends and Insights for
SMB Executives

Life is different for IT professionals at small and mid-sized
businesses, which don't have the luxury of hiring legions of
network experts. Read how network executives are keeping a firm
footing on an ever-shifting product landscape. Learn about
trends and insights surrounding VoIP and VPNs; plus get
commentaries from leading experts on storage strategies for
smaller businesses.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=109158
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Optical Networking newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/optical/index.html
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE
SIX TIPS FOR GETTING WHAT YOU DESERVE

Before you go in for your next annual review or promotion
interview, you would be wise to consider these tips for ensuring
you've got the right stuff to move ahead. Network executives
offer advice to help you gun for that next promotion and fatten
up your paycheck. Click here:
<http://www.networkworld.com/you/2005/072505-salary-side2.html>
_______________________________________________________________
May We Send You a Free Print Subscription?
You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered
at your fingertips each day. Now, extend your knowledge by
receiving 51 FREE issues to our print publication. Apply
today at http://www.subscribenw.com/nl2

International subscribers click here:
http://nww1.com/go/circ_promo.html
_______________________________________________________________
SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES

To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World e-mail
newsletters, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/Changes.aspx>

To change your e-mail address, go to:
<http://www.nwwsubscribe.com/ChangeMail.aspx>

Subscription questions? Contact Customer Service by replying to
this message.

This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com
Please use this address when modifying your subscription.
_______________________________________________________________

Have editorial comments? Write Jeff Caruso, Newsletter Editor,
at: <mailto:jcaruso@nww.com>

Inquiries to: NL Customer Service, Network World, Inc., 118
Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772

For advertising information, write Kevin Normandeau, V.P. of
Online Development, at: <mailto:sponsorships@nwfusion.com>

Copyright Network World, Inc., 2005