F5 Networks Inc. on Feb. 27 will launch a new release of the WAN optimization appliances it acquired with Swan Labs last year with new Wide Area File Services capabilities.
The Seattle company wasted no time in preparing a new release of the WANjet software acquired five months ago, bringing to F5 customers new support for Microsoft Windows CIFS (Common Internet File System).
The CIFS support boosts the speed of delivering Windows application files over slow-speed WAN links by three to four times, according to Ameet Dhillon, director of product management for the Swan Labs unit in San Jose, Calif.
The CIFS acceleration functions exploit F5 Networks Transparent Data Reduction technology to further reduce transfer times on data already transferred once to a local appliance. It brings F5 Networks in direct competition with Cisco Systems Inc.s WAFS offerings.
F5 Networks also improved the scalability of the appliances with the ability to support as many as 10,000 concurrent, optimized connections.
The increased scalability of the WANjet appliances was implemented at the request of larger F5 Network customers.
/zimages/3/28571.gifTo read more about F5s acquisition of Swan Labs,click here.
“Were doing an evaluation for a very large customer that wants to scale WANjet using BigIPs to front end WANjet,” said Dhillon.
The WANjet appliances can support up to 622 Megabits Per Second data rates.
Beyond the performance boost and CIFS support, F5 Networks began work to integrate the WANjets into its existing product portfolio with a new, common user interface.
“The UI has been modified to look like a Big IP interface,” said Dhillon.
Licensing mechanisms have also been made common across the WANjet and F5 Network product portfolio.
F5 Networks intends to take that integration further by moving the WANjet software over to F5 Networks TMOS (Traffic Management Operating System) software platform.
That is intended to simplify management of WANjet appliances in existing F5 accounts. That integration is due at years end, Dhillon said.
WANjet 4.0 is due March 15.
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