Foundry, Cisco, Juniper, Citrix challenged to a face-off, Part 1

Wide Area Networking This newsletter is sponsored by EMC Align Business with IT Discover the steps required to automate the management of IT environments to effectively respond to changing business demands. Click here to download this whitepaper today! Network World's Wide Area Networking Newsletter, 08/14/07 Foundry, Cisco, Juniper, Citrix challenged to a face-off, Part 1 By Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler For the second consecutive year, leading vendors in the application delivery arena are squaring off with their solution in the “Application Delivery Challenge,” a project jointly produced by Robin Layland of Layland Consulting and Webtorials. In the challenge, which is part of a series on a variety of topics, Robin begins by introducing the area of technology and presenting “the challenge.” Each vendor then responds with their solution. This year, the participating vendors are Foundry Networks, Cisco, Juniper and Citrix. The Challenge’s subtitle, “Solutions for the Data Center,” emphasizes that these solutions are primarily intended for “asymmetrical” deployment in the data center as opposed to “symmetrical” deployment both at the central site and the branch site. (This second class of appliances is addressed separately in an “Application Acceleration Challenge.) Nomenclature for these devices remains a conundrum both due to their multifunctional characteristics and due to the fact that most products evolved from an earlier point solution. As Robin points out in the introduction, “This networking solution for the data center goes by many names: Application Switch, Application Delivery Controller (ADC) or Application Front End (AFE). It’s the next evolution of Server Load Balancers or Layer 4-7 switches. While we have not decided on a name, and we didn’t even settle on one in the past, let’s call it an ‘application switch’ since it is one less word. Regardless, it plays a critical role in the network.” Get Up to Speed on the Latest in WLANs Easily stay on top of the latest developments and issues in WLAN technology, standards, security, telephony, management and more with Network World's latest Executive Guide, "Keeping Up With the Wireless Whirlwind." Click here to download! He continues by explaining that the application switch “sits in front of our servers and appliances. There are Web servers, client/server application servers, presentation servers, database servers, DNS servers, RAS servers and the list goes on. Appliances have also wildly propagated. It is getting rare to have only one appliance for a function. Security appliances are plentiful enough to create their own farm with multiple firewalls, IPSs and other new security appliances constantly being added. Install the wrong application switch and your network and you will suffer.” In the next newsletter, we will look further at what the applications switches are expected to do and what the participants in the challenge were give as “ground rules.” In the meantime, the written responses to the challenge are available at Webtorials.   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 EMC Align Business with IT Discover the steps required to automate the management of IT environments to effectively respond to changing business demands. Click here to download this whitepaper today! 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