Service quality will decline due to capital and operational cuts at major carriers, accelerating the migration toward Internet-based services.
Cisco added on-board SSL to the CSS appliance, and included valuable back-end SSL multiplexing that enables end-to-end encryption without completely sacrificing the scalability advantages of offloading SSL. Cisco also added URL rewriting, and in 2004 we expect the firm to continue to improve its depth of payload inspection and replacement functionality, which lags the general market.
F5 Networks F5’s recent feature development has been aimed at bridging the gap between the network and application with deep packet inspection (up to 16k beyond the header), SOAP/XML application programming interfaces (APIs), and enhanced rules to filter, switch, persist, and log activities as they pass through the box. This functionality enables a developer to tie application logic to network switching and allows the network load balancer to move up the stack toward more complex application and database load balancing.
Foundry Networks Foundry is widely recognized as being very capable at building scalable Ethernet switching and routing platforms. These enhancements enabled Foundry to gain ground on rival Cisco, but it still falls short of Radware and F5 in application functionality.
Radware was the first to market with link load balancing and has extensive experience with it. Other distinguishing features of the Web Server Director include bandwidth management, multigigabit DoS, and a good management console.
NetScaler NetScaler is an innovative challenger that is gradually converting some key marquee accounts (e.g., Google, MSN) due to its scalability, DoS protection, and server acceleration.
META Group recommends that buyers conduct due diligence into the company’s financials prior to purchasing.
More info: [url=http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/Network_Load_Balancing_Vendor_Update.html?tag=tu.nwblog.6584]http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/Network_Load_Balancing_Vendor_Update.html?tag=tu.nwblog.6584[/url]