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Citrix, wasting no time launching new WAN optimization appliances based on technology from its recent Orbital Data acquisition, will introduce on Sept. 18 its new WANScaler 8000 line along with a new release of its NetScaler Web application acceleration software.
With WAN optimization and application acceleration poised to go mainstream in some large enterprises, Citrix at Interop will show off the new high-end version of its WANScaler appliance for data centers and branch offices.
The new WANScaler 8000 appliances are unique in their ability to perform multilevel compression. It allows the devices to “dynamically select and apply the right compression algorithm for a particular application type, data flow and network bandwidth conditions,” said Greg Smith, a marketing director at Citrix in San Jose, Calif.
“We do not have one-size-fits-all compression. That allows us to generate much better compression ratios and faster application performance for users in branch offices,” he added.
The compression options, which include disk-based compression, level-two cache and memory-based compression, can improve application response time by up to 300 times for users in branch offices. A new compression algorithm can compress data at up to a 3500 to 1 ratio.
Such performance improvements can prevent the need to upgrade WAN links to remote branch offices, Smith said.
The WANScaler line includes the WANScaler 8800, designed in a 2U form factor for data centers. It includes dual power supplies, dual fans and RAID disks, and it supports WAN speeds of up to 500M bps.
The WANScaler 8500, a 1U form factor appliance, is designed for medium and large branch offices. It too has fault tolerant RAID disks. The WANScalers are deployed in a hub and spoke topology, with a device in each branch office communicating with the central data center appliance.
The WANScaler 8000 line also works with a WANScaler Client to bring the performance benefits to remote users working in very small branches, home offices or on the road.
They are available now, and start at $8,500 for the WANScaler 8500 and $40,000 for the WANScaler 8800.
The new release of Citrixs NetScaler Web application acceleration software also focused on scalability with the ability to support up to 15,000 servers in a single data center.
That represents a tripling of capacity for the application accelerator, according to Smith.
At the same time NetScaler 7.0 allows users to create service groups “where you can change the configuration parameters on groups of servers” rather than individual servers, Smith said.
The new release can also rewrite HTTP headers—addresses for Web applications—to improve security and preserve consistent naming across disparate Web application servers.
“If youre integrating separately developed applications that have different URLs, you can use URL rewriting to present a single web address to users,” Smith said.
“That allows you to preserve a consistent name or brand, even if the applications have very different architectures.”
It also allows users to hide internal details of the application infrastructure from external users.
For the growing number of VOIP (voice over IP) rollouts, Citrix also added the ability in NetScaler 7.0 to load balance Session Initiation Protocol servers.
NetScaler 7.0 is also available now.