Two partnerships have been formed to sell the benefits of load balancing and server management software working in tandem with network caching systems. To start with, CacheFlow Inc boxes now work with the Cache Server Director (CSD) from Israeli company Radware. Radware’s CSD is an intelligent cache proxy server management and load balancing system, designed for organizations that use cache server farms on their networks. The Radware/CacheFlow deal is tailored especially for internet service providers (ISPs) who are struggling to optimize performance within the constraints of available bandwidth and server cycles. Basing its view on a survey of ISPs, Dataquest recently described CacheFlow’s products as the highest- performance caching appliances on the market. Add to that Radware CSD, which intercepts HTTP requests and directs clients to the particular CacheFlow appliance where a requested URL is stored, and you get a leaner, more efficient network, or so the theory goes. The CSD also provides fault tolerance and redundancy to CacheFlow units, eliminating single points of failure. A second deal is targeted at content, software distribution and media providers. So confident is Concentric Network Corp that it can provide instant web-site capacity on-demand that the company is offering peak insurance to these web content providers. Web site operators who want to prepare for rapid growth and spikes in traffic now have an alternative to making up-front investments in bandwidth and hardware, Concentric claims. Concentric Peak Protection is designed for companies who don’t want to have to rely on a single hosting provider, internet service provider or their own data center. The service uses Inktomi Corp software on Concentric’s own Distributed Server Environment (DSE) platform, which, like Radware’s software, handles load balancing and failover services. Inktomi Traffic Servers are deployed through Concentric’s OC-3 based network for use by multiple customers. Customers sign up for Peak Protection and use a secure web interface to request the amount of bandwidth they will need during a projected peak. Concentric’s infrastructure automatically builds a copy of the content based on where web viewership and demand exists. Suddenly, a single server should start to behave like multiple, geographically dispersed mirrors. Prospective customers should brace themselves for a $1000 set-up fee and $700 monthly charge, with specific bandwidth charges starting at $550 on top. The good news is that anyone signing up before March 31 gets a 25% discount on the set-up fee and monthly charge.
