Hello Marc,
> Hope this wasn't posted earlier today:
>
> news.com
I didn't see it earlier ... thanx for the post!
> I find I'm suddenly interested in any article that mentions web
> caching, which must mean that I'm close to buying NOVL shares.
I too am a big follower of caching products! ;-) Numerous times on this thread I have indicated that the power of caching, and the next step - Hierarchical Caching - are going to revolutionize the Internet. Then when you couple that with powerful proxy capabilites you start to provide a wide range of services that provide much better security, manageability, and scalability!
The best part of this article was something that you didn't post here ...
> Network Appliance, a company that has reaped large rewards
> from its focus on systems that offer fast access to data, also
> released new systems dedicated to delivering Web pages quickly
> through a caching mechanism. Two models, the NetApp C230
> and the C630, can offer access to 550 URLs per second and can
> support up to 8,000 connections via use of the company's
> NetCache software and optimized hardware.
HAH! What a joke! ;-) The two key figures that they indicate are almost as funny as the cost. They indicate 550 URLs per second ... we've topped out at over 5000! They indicate support for up to 8,000 connections ... I have a customer here in Utah that regularly exceeds 15,000! But let's read on ...
> Caching software allows Web sites to be stored close to the user
> so that every query does not result in a connection across the
> Net, which often results in slow response times.
> For example, to offer better service to online customers, an
> Internet Service Provider could place several cache systems at
> regional sites in order to speed access to Web pages. By caching
> a Web page locally, a user does not have to rely on the response
> time of the often congested Net infrastructure to view a site they
> hit frequently, such as ESPN's SportsZone.
Yep ... this is a pretty good description ... and with BorderManager I can even decide as an employer whether I want to allow my employees to go to ESPN's SportsZone. Can they do that?
But it only gets better ...
> The boxes can be used as a single system or clustered together
> for large Web server installations. Both systems will be available
> this month, with the C230 starting at $16,550 and the C630
> starting at $65,720.
Oh, this is good. For pure acceleration a customer could buy FastCache for $995, and pick up a Pentium based Intel box for under $5000 with 128MB RAM and several GB of disk and beat the pants off this "software and optimized hardware" using easily available commodity hardware.
Hopefully people being sucked into these proprietary, and extremely expensive, solutions will start to recognize that the company that drove the LAN revolution is back ... and this time we see a Global Area Network!
Scott C. Lemon |
