Wide area networking company Ascend Communications Inc has taken an equity stake in HydraWeb Technologies Inc. HydraWeb builds what it calls application-aware load balancing and packet forwarding technology. Its hardware sits in front of server farms, for example, monitoring the load on each server and directing requests to the best available machine. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed, but Ascend makes it clear that what it wants is to become a key provider of infrastructure for high- volume web and e-commerce sites. As part of the agreement, Ascend VP Roger Boyce will be named to the board of directors of HydraWeb. Load balancing, as HydraWeb Technologies has developed it, is a critical part of any e-commerce or ISP installation, Boyce said in a statement. The companies are in the process of defining a product roadmap. Future products should combine the high performance and intelligent routing available through HydraWeb’s hardware with the remote access that is Ascend’s particular strength.
