Zero chance of interoperability between optimization technologies

Wide Area Networking This newsletter is sponsored by Silver Peak WAN Acceleration: What You Must Know Join Robert Whiteley, senior analyst, Forrester Research, as he quickly and easily explains the technologies behind WAN acceleration: how each works and how they differ from solution to solution. Get the knowledge you need to understand how the technology can greatly improve your network. Network World's Wide Area Networking Newsletter, 05/29/07 Zero chance of interoperability between optimization technologies By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler Jim recently moderated a seminar series on the topic of network and application optimization that was produced by Network World. This is the last of three newsletters that will discuss some of the questions that the audience had for the presenting vendors at the seminars. A theme that popped up in each of the four seminars concerned the lack of interoperability between branch office optimization technologies. As one user asked, “What are the chances of an interoperability standard amongst the vendors?” The simple answer is that there would be zero chance of an interoperability standard in the foreseeable future. As the vendors explain it, they certainly could build products using standards such as gzip. Their argument, however, is that by using proprietary techniques they get much better performance than is possible with a standards based approach. Whether you accept that argument or not, there is not really any chance that these products will interoperate anytime soon. During the seminar, a Cisco speaker made the comment that only Cisco and Citrix avoid tunneling. Their point was that tunneling changes the packet headers and hence a solution based on tunneling is not transparent. That comment spurred a number of questions from the audience relative to whose solutions are truly transparent. Those questions were best answered by the speaker from F5 who looked at the other sponsors and stated, “Each of our company’s solutions have caused some networks to break.” VoIP: Lessons from Early Adopters Experts say VoIP isn't a magic wand that will solve all of an organization's communications challenges right out of the box. Learn why VoIP may not produce expected savings and productivity gains, and other lessons from early adopters. Click Here to Watch Another theme that popped up in each of the four seminars was the confusion that the attendees had in choosing between the vendors’ solutions. As one user asked, “What is the No. 1 step I should take to get started in evaluating these solutions?” Our advice is to develop a set of decision criteria and use these to evaluate the available solutions. The result of this analysis is a short list of vendors whose solutions you need to take in-house and test. To help with this process, we will begin to write about the criteria that we suggest you use to evaluate these solutions.   What do you think? Post a comment on this newsletter

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Contact the author: 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, the premier site for Web-based educational presentations, white papers, and market research. Taylor can be reached at 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 via e-mail. This newsletter is sponsored by Silver Peak WAN Acceleration: What You Must Know Join Robert Whiteley, senior analyst, Forrester Research, as he quickly and easily explains the technologies behind WAN acceleration: how each works and how they differ from solution to solution. Get the knowledge you need to understand how the technology can greatly improve your network. ARCHIVE Archive of the Wide Area Networking Newsletter. BONUS FEATURE IT PRODUCT RESEARCH AT YOUR FINGERTIPS Get detailed information on thousands of products, conduct side-by-side comparisons and read product test and review results with Network World’s IT Buyer’s Guides. Find the best solution faster than ever with over 100 distinct categories across the security, storage, management, wireless, infrastructure and convergence markets. Click here for details. PRINT SUBSCRIPTIONS AVAILABLE You've got the technology snapshot of your choice delivered to your inbox each day. Extend your knowledge with a print subscription to the Network World newsweekly, Apply here today. International subscribers, click here. SUBSCRIPTION SERVICES To subscribe or unsubscribe to any Network World newsletter, change your e-mail address or contact us, click here. This message was sent to: networking.world@gmail.com. Please use this address when modifying your subscription. Advertising information: Write to Associate Publisher Online Susan Cardoza Network World, Inc., 118 Turnpike Road, Southborough, MA 01772 Copyright Network World, Inc., 2007