HydraWEB Technologies Inc yesterday launched a software upgrade to its web server load balancing device that will allow companies to exploit cookies to give VIP treatment to valuable clients interacting with their web sites. The New York-based company also announced HydraASP, a load balancing upgrade designed for application service providers.
HydraCookies allows companies to route web requests to server clusters prioritized on a client’s previous behavior and the value of their custom, information that is stored as a cookie on the client’s desktop. Multi-million dollar clients would be routed to servers with lots of available processing capacity for fast service, whereas a casual browser would be routed to a slower server.
HydraWEB sells primarily to internet service providers and financial institutions. In the former’s case an ISP could include VIP status in a premium service. In the latter’s, a company such as an online brokerage would prioritize its big institutional dealers, which are worth a lot more than armchair day traders.
Roger Heise, VP international sales at HydraWEB said that although the firm’s client base includes names such as Dow Jones, the Wall Street Journal and Citibank, its fastest-growing market is with e-commerce companies. This means that web shopping sites can make sure paying customers get a more efficient interaction than window shoppers.
The software costs $12,000, and sits on a HydraWEB Series load balancer, the router that deals with traffic to a web server. HydraWEB Series 900, 2000 and 5000 are available, offering connections to two, four and unlimited servers, costing $12,000, $24,000 and $60,000 respectively.
HydraASP, also launched yesterday, is a software agent designed to sit on an ASP’s application server, communicating with the routing device. The software monitors both hardware and application performance, in order to route requests to the application server under the least strain, so that ASPs can offer better performance services. Combined with the HydraCookies software, ASPs will also be able to offer premium availability services.
