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Technology Stocks : Network Appliance -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Jack Hartmann who wrote (3271)	5/16/2000 9:45:00 PM
From: Jack Hartmann	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 10934

Web Caching Solutions Dan Niles (415)693-3241, e-mail: dan_niles@rsco.com Arnab Chanda (415)676-2865, e-mail: arnab_chanda@rsco.com Dane Lewis (415)248-4071, e-mail: dane_lewis@rsco.com As Internet and Intranet traffic accelerates, bandwidth constraints lead to congested networks and servers. This in turn results in end-users experiencing the frustration of slow Web site loading times. This week we discuss the benefits of implementing caching solutions to improve the end-users experience. Growing Internet Traffic The amount of traffic that is being transmitted over the Internet is increasing each day, and by some reports it is doubling every 3 months. More and more Web sites are being created and are incorporating bandwidth intensive applications like streaming audio and video. IDC has projected that the number of worldwide Internet users will increase from approximately 240 million in 1999 to approximately 600 million in 2003 and URL growth is expected to exceed 35% y/y, from 4.3 billion URLs in 1999 to approximately 16.5 billion in 2003, according to IDC. The popularity and the expanding functionality of the World Wide Web has led to bandwidth constraints and latency issues that impact the quality of the end-users experience. Caching technology provides substantial relief from Internet traffic congestion and reduces unwanted user delays. Web Caching Solution A Web cache is a dedicated computer system within the Internet that monitors Web object requests and stores objects that it retrieves. By storing frequently accessed content at a location closer to the user, a great deal of latency and delay in the Internet can be eliminated. Conceptually, when a user needs a resource from the Web, the browser asks the cache server for the data. If the resource, which is identified by its URL, is in the cache server's database, the request is satisfied and the data is served at fast LAN speeds. If, however, the data is not in the cache database then the cache server requests it from the Web, and simultaneously saves the data for future requests and serves the data to the end user (See Figure 1 below). Statistically, approximately 35% of content requests that come through a cache can be successfully delivered from the cache database, thereby reducing expensive bandwidth requirements by up to 35%. Types of Web Caches There are many different types of Web caches. The simplest and easiest to maintain (described above) is the proxy cache server, which sits on the network between the LAN and the Internet and essentially acts as a gateway to the Internet for every user. Other types include the transparent proxy cache, and the reverse proxy cache. Data Freshness The problem with caching data is that this data changes over time. Consequently, Web caches need to have ways to ensure that they are not serving up stale objects. There are three different methods of checking for data freshness. Send a "get if modified" request to the server each time an object is requested. Utilize the HTTP protocol 1.1, which includes options for an object to indicate whether it should be cached, and if so, the time interval before "fresh" data becomes stale. Apply heuristics to judge the life expectancy of each object based on the elapsed time since the object was last modified. Hardware and Software Caches The caching appliance is typically a combination of caching software that is integrated with a hardware platform and a proprietary operating system. These appliances are designed for easy set up (i.e., plug and play) and generally require minimal administration. Companies such as Network Appliance (NTAP $58-3/16), CacheFlow (CFLO $47-1/2) and Cobalt Networks (COBT $26-1/2) offer a range caching appliances. The software solution runs on top of standard platforms such as NT or UNIX. Software caches are generally less expensive than appliances, however installation and management of these solutions tends to be more difficult. Companies such as Inktomi (INKT $119-3/16), Akamai (AKAM $70-1/2), and Novell (NOV $10-3/32) provide software based caching solutions. Additionally, there is the open-source Web proxy cache for Unix and Linux?called Squid?which is available for free download. The Caching Market Figure 2 depicts the caching market which is expected to grow from $269 million in 1999 to over $2 billion in 2003 reflecting an impressive 69% compound annual growth rate according to the Internet Research Group. As Internet usage continues to grow worldwide, with the proliferation of eCommerce, streaming media and other data intensive applications, caching delivers an easy and inexpensive solution to leverage bandwidth while improving the performance of both Web-browsers and Web servers chipstocks.com ************* Some graphics also on the link. May 15, 2000 article is the one that is posted. Jack