BoostWorks becomes ActivNetworks

NETWORK WORLD NEWSLETTER: DENISE DUBIE ON NETWORK OPTIMIZATION
10/11/05
Today's focus: BoostWorks becomes ActivNetworks

Dear networking.world@gmail.com,

In this issue:

* ActiveNetworks takes back intellectual property of defunct
BoostWorks
* Links related to Network Optimization
* Featured reader resource
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Today's focus: BoostWorks becomes ActivNetworks

By Denise Dubie

BoostWorks and its BoostEdge compression products are back under
the direction of a few technologists who reclaimed the company.

A group of former employees purchased the intellectual property
of BoostWorks when the company was forced into bankruptcy after
it "stuggled under the weight of obligations incurred in the
buyout" of traffic shaping company Streamcore
<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2003/0228boostworks.html?rl>,
according to ActivNetworks, the new company of the original
BoostWorks founders, developers and engineering management.

As well as incorporating BoostWorks' products into its products
suite, ActivNetworks also offers other application acceleration
and front-end devices. BoostEdge sits in front of Web servers
and the Internet to speed up traffic using HTTP and HTTPS,
compression and content filtering to act on the data traversing
the network. BoostEdge was put through its paces in a test by
Network World Global Test Alliance back in 2003
<http://www.networkworld.com/reviews/2003/0804rev.html?rl>.

BoostEdge determines what kind of browser is initiating the
session so it can customize responses for that browser to
minimize the amount of traffic that must be sent. It also uses
standard compression that is part of browsers to reduce traffic
volume.

The company is offering an API inside the product to help
partners add new modules to the device, which would provide a
format to enable specific acceleration and specific compression
to parts of an application.

ActivNetworks says BoostEdge is among products and technologies
that are part of a larger trend the company is calling
Application Network Mediation. Company representatives say HTTP
is the "new network layer" just as TCP/IP became a standard;
HTTP will become the network layer for distributed applications.

"The first wave for adoption is the Webification of all
applications," says Armel Bile, marketing director for
ActivNetworks European division. "The second wave will be this
communication between the applications enabled by HTTP."

According to Bile, ActivNetworks, which competes with the likes
of Redline Networks (now owned by Juniper Networks) and
NetScaler (which was picked up by Citrix), is the first to move
from acceleration to application network mediation, which would
equip their front-end appliances with the intelligence to make
changes to how content traverses wide-area links.

"We are acting at the HTTP protocol layer and talking with the
application at this level. We are able to say that by changing
the way the HTTP protocol is talking, we are going to reduce
latency," Bile explains.

The top 5: Today's most-read stories

1. Symantec AntiVirus Scan Engine has serious bug
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnetop8507>
2. How to solve Windows system crashes in minutes
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnetop7629>
3. IETF effort promises fewer net failures
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnetop8508>
4. Nortel's uphill battle
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnetop8116>
5. You won't find this book on Oprah's list
<http://www.networkworld.com/nlnetop8509>

_______________________________________________________________
To contact: Denise Dubie

Senior Editor Denise Dubie covers network and systems management
for Network World. Reach her at <mailto:ddubie@nww.com>.
_______________________________________________________________
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ARCHIVE LINKS

Archive of the Network Optimization newsletter:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/accel/index.html
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The Rise of MultiService Networks

Leading analysts believe that voice over IP over Wi-Fi, or VoFi,
is going to become a core driver of WLAN installations moving
forward. Find out how multiservice networking fits in.
http://www.fattail.com/redir/redirect.asp?CID=117100
_______________________________________________________________
FEATURED READER RESOURCE

IT PROS SHARE THEIR TALES OF MAKING ITIL WORK

Running an enterprise network is challenging. IT organizational
change can be even more so if managers don't balance efforts
proportionally across people, process and technology.
Implementing best practices frameworks such as Information
Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) can help, but they
introduce their own set of challenges. Click here for more:

<http://www.networkworld.com/news/2005/092205-itil.html>
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