Kemp Technologies updated its LoadMaster family of load balancers with two new mid-range devices that have the same features as other models but improved performance and SSL encryption processing.
Kemp Technologies added new
mid-range appliances to its LoadMaster family of load balancers, the company
said Jan. 18.
Kemp targets budget-conscious
small and midsized businesses with its LoadMaster family. Designed to be easy
to use and deploy, the LoadMaster appliances provide enterprise-scale features
and performance to the smaller businesses. Kemp stratifies its hardware
appliances on performance, namely bandwidth capabilities, and not on features,
according to Peter Melerud, co-founder and vice president of product management
at Kemp Technologies.
This family of load
balancers and application controllers includes virtual
appliances and four hardware appliances: the LoadMaster 2200, 2600, 3600
and 5500. The LoadMaster 2600 replaced the LoadMaster 2500, and the LoadMaster
3600 replaced the LoadMaster 3500, according to Melerud.
The same features and functions
are available across all four models, but "the difference is speed," he said.
According to Melerud, the needs of the smallest businesses are "essentially the
same" as the largest enterprises.
"We can't say, -You
are too small; you don't need to optimize your network.' If nothing else, they
need it more than the large enterprises," Melerud told eWEEK.
The two new appliances are
not just a refresh of the two mid-range boxes as the new models have
significantly faster performance and throughput speeds, Melerud said.
Both models are
server-load-balancing, content-switching appliances that improve performance
for Web-enabled applications, Kemp said. With integrated ASIC-based (application-specific
IC-based) SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) acceleration, the new LoadMasters speed up
processing time for encrypted applications. They offer a performance boost for
2,048-bit length keys.
Like the rest of the family,
these new LoadMasters provide customers with application delivery optimization,
high availability, and fault tolerance, Kemp said.
The LoadMaster 2600 and
LoadMaster 3600 both handle caching, compression and SSL offloading. The 2600 features
4 GbE ports and has better performance, compared with the retired 2500. It
handles increased traffic loads with Layer-7 throughput at 1.5G bps and can
process 2,000 SSL transactions per second.
The 3600 appliance has 8 GbE
ports and can support as many as 1,000 virtual and real servers. It can also
maintain 100,000 Layer-7 concurrent connections or 2 million Layer-4 concurrent
transactions. Its performance has also been boosted to have a Layer-4
throughput of 3.4G bps and Layer-7 throughput of 2.9G bps. Its SSL processing
performance has also been increased to 5,000 SSL transactions per second.
Like the other products in
the LoadMaster family, the new LoadMaster models are optimized for Microsoft Exchange
2010, Lync, SharePoint and Terminal Services. The new appliances can also be
redundantly paired together so that network managers can view and manage them
as a single entity from the administration console.
According to Melerud, each
appliance is assigned its own IP address, and after it is paired, another IP
address is assigned to the new entity as the management address. The
administrator points the Web browser to the third IP address to make any
changes. Those changes immediately propagate to each individual appliance,
Melerud said.
The new appliances are also
interoperable with the earlier models, so customers don't have to wait before
installing the newer LoadMasters. Customers can also buy an appliance, install
it and buy a second one later. Once the license information is updated in the
management interface, the console automatically pairs the load balancers and
displays them as a single unit, Melerud said.
The models are available for
shipping. The 2600 is priced at $6,990, and the 3600 at $9,890. The prices
include first-year support. Customers with the older 2500 and 3500 appliances
will continue to be supported until end-of-life, Melerud said.
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