CacheFlow Inc has announced a CacheFlow 500 Series of appliances designed to fit between the company’s high- and low-end machines and to hit the sweet spot for internet service providers (ISPs). A recent survey conducted by Boardwatch magazine has found that 70% of ISPs have under 6MB of internet bandwidth, which translates to four or fewer T1 connections. The CacheFlow 501 and 502, priced at $16,995 and $18,500 respectively, are built to work optimally with two and four T1s. The Intel-based devices use an embedded application-specific operating system called CacheOS, which the company claims outperforms comparable systems from rivals Network Appliances Inc and Cisco Systems Inc. The question is whether ISPs will embrace a single-purpose piece of hardware into their hard-working networks.
