Vendors defend their approaches to app acceleration

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: STEVE TAYLOR AND JIM METZLER ON WIDE
AREA NETWORKING
09/01/05
Today's focus: Vendors defend their approaches to app
acceleration

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* Webtorials, Robin Layland offer 'Application Acceleration
  Challenge'
* Links related to Wide Area Networking
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: Vendors defend their approaches to app
acceleration

By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

Webtorials recently published an on-demand "Application
Acceleration Challenge," produced in cooperation with Robin
Layland of Layland Consulting. Robin has been producing these
challenges for a number of years in print form, and the recent
Webtorials publication moves from the more traditional format to
a virtual conference that emulates attending a multi-vendor
session at a trade show.

The results of the challenge, and an extensive document, are
available here
<http://www.webtorials.com/abstracts/app-accel-05.html>.

The participants in the challenge include Packeteer, Array
Networks, Expand Networks, Riverbed, and Juniper.

Layland acted as the "virtual moderator" of the session.
According to Robin, for both the on-demand presentations and the
paper, the question is not whether you implement application
acceleration, but who do you turn to for an application
accelerator?

In his words:

"I have gathered the leading application acceleration vendors to
let them explain what they can do to help your application go
faster. There is no one application acceleration 'trick' that
accelerates all applications. Each vendor attacks the problem in
a slightly different way and specializes in different problems
and protocols. That does not mean that there is no overlap -
there is - just that each vendor has his own set of strengths.

"The goal is to save you time by bringing the vendors together
to answer a common set of questions. I asked each vendor the
following questions:
- What type of application acceleration do you provide?
- What makes your solution the best solution?
- What is different about your solution?

"I did not ask the vendors to spend time explaining the
importance of application acceleration, so you will not see the
normal 'marketing' position on the importance of application
acceleration. Anyone who has slow applications or complaining
users knows the importance of speeding up application delivery.
Instead you will see the vendor immediately explain what their
strengths and competitive advantages are."

The Application Acceleration Challenge can be found here
<http://www.webtorials.com/abstracts/app-accel-05.html> : (free
registration required)

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Google dives deeper into networking
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6051>

2. 2005 salary survey <http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan4011>

3. VoIP rollouts generate heat, power concerns
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6283>

4. Cisco aims to simplify switch mgmt.
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6054>

5. VoIP season about to heat up
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6053>

Today's most-forwarded story:

VoIP rollouts generate heat, power concerns
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlwan6284>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates
and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. For more detailed
information on most of the topics discussed in this newsletter,
connect to Webtorials <http://www.webtorials.com/>, the premier
site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and
market research. Taylor can be reached at
<mailto:taylor@webtorials.com>

Jim Metzler is the Vice President of Ashton, Metzler &
Associates, a consulting organization that focuses on leveraging
technology for business success. Jim assists vendors to refine
product strategies, service providers to deploy technologies and
services, and enterprises evolve their network infrastructure.
He can be reached at <mailto:jim@ashtonmetzler.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=111811
_______________________________________________________________
ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the WAN newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/frame/index.html
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FEATURED READER RESOURCE
VoIP

For the latest in VoIP, check out NW's Research Center on this
very topic. Here you will find a collection of the latest news,
reviews, product testing results and more all related to keeping
VoIP networks performing at their best. Click here for more:
<http://www.networkworld.com/topics/voip.html>
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