Application Networking Services Category Archives
April 30, 2008
Interop 2008 Winner Networking & Application Best of Award
Cisco WAE 674 and Cisco WAAS v4.1 is the recipient for providing application optimization, services for customers to improve application performance over Wide Area Networks.
Cisco Wide Area Application Engine (WAE) Appliances
Cisco Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) Software
Posted by John Murphy at 08:22 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 19, 2008
Gold = Good, Happy Customers = Great
All vendors get excited when their products win awards and get listed publicly. Cisco was no different when we won not one, but two GOLD MEDALS for our application networking products in SearchNetworking's Product of the Year awards for WAN Optimization and Application Delivery Controllers.
But what really should make vendors the happiest is growing numbers of satisfied customers that are getting real business benefits from their products...
Cisco was happy in this context also this week -- analyst firm IDC published a
case study on a large US bank which deployed the Cisco ACE platform.
The 8000+ end users of a key bank application, supported by 450 IT professionals, gained "very high marks" from the following benefits per IDC's write-up:
* Strong load balancing capabilities. All of these features improve performance
across the MPLS network.
* SSL load balancing. The Cisco ACE platform provides SSL offload so the
external Web site servers do not have to use CPU cycles to encrypt/unencrypt
Web traffic. This feature improves both performance and security of the
externally facing Web servers.
* Role-based administration. This allows approved IT personnel to perform
maintenance on specific servers without the involvement of the network team.
The result is more efficient management of servers and lower operational and
administrative overhead.
(source: IDC case study, March 2008)
Clearly one customer's achieved benefits and point of view. Now here's the open question to readers: what makes you (or your end users) "happy" when it comes to deploying and using application delivery equipment? And what doesn't??
We would like to hear your thoughts....
Posted by Mark Weiner at 03:30 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
March 13, 2008
Branching Out
I'm sitting here in my office at 8:30 on Thursday night when I should seriously be out having a cold adult beverage somewhere. But instead I read an article that just got to me. I don't write much about things not totally linked to the data center, so this was a bit of a departure, but one with which I hope you find worth investing a few minutes of your time on reading.
Network World has this habit of dignifying things that employees of a company up north happen to write a bit. The latest ill-conceived spawn from their fingertips is of course linked right here as always.
dg
I do hope someone could take a stab at helping Tony out with how to design and build his mythical branch. I also think there is a life lesson here to be learned. While I like to hit back with a bit of a wit which has earned such fun comments as 'So Gourlay is a Schmuck' or my favorite 'my passive aggressive style that I am known for'. (which by the way I find endearing, heart warming, and just downright funny) I do hope everyone can see that I have yet to call out any person at a competitor, link to a competitors collateral, or even call another company out by name.
I guess this approach is part of what separates the lead dog from the ones with a much different view...
Happy Thursday, enjoy the view.
dg
Posted by Douglas Gourlay at 08:29 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
February 26, 2008
Cisco & Microsoft: Optimizing the Branch Together
Some people make friends easily. Others find it a hard thing to do. Still more people are challenged to keep their friends over time.
Today Cisco and Microsoft announced that they're working hard to address some of the key IT challenges our most important friends have -- our customers. Specifically in this announcement, our mutual branch IT customers and their end users.
What did the companies announce?
Windows Server 2008 (specifically Windows Server 2008 Server Core), will be hosted on upcoming versions of virtualized Cisco WAAS appliances later this year.
What makes that so interesting to our customers?
Several things:
1) The ability to flexibly design branch office IT architectures to meet information and business requirements, while actively lowering management cycles and cost.
2) Reducing IT devices in the branch, while still delivering required end user experience and local services (can you say print server, DNS, DHCP?)
3) Leveraging the network, and the benefits of WAN optimization (Cisco WAAS) coupled with virtualization, to enable the ideal mix of local branch and centralized data center services. Selectable by the customer.
What are people saying about this?
Here's one point of view: http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206900159
And here's another from Microsoft's Windows Server branch team, posted today: http://blogs.technet.com/windowsserver/archive/2008/02/26/check-out-the-latest-branch-solution-powered-by-windows-server-2008.aspx
What are Microsoft and Cisco execs saying about it? See them yourself in video: http://www.cisco.com/go/microsoftalliance
If you're in Los Angeles, CA tomorrow for the Microsoft Windows Server 2008 launch, or in another of the 250+ cities where events are occuring, you can see this for yourself: http://www.microsoft.com/heroeshappenhere/default.mspx.
We'd be keen to hear your thoughts on this integrated solution from Cisco and Microsoft, too. Send us a reply with your thoughts...
Mark Weiner
Marketing Director, Data Center Solutions
Posted by Mark Weiner at 06:30 PM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
January 23, 2008
Cisco pushes network to deliver apps
So Networkers Barcelona is in full swing, and Cisco and partners are making their announcements.
What does Cisco have to say about the hot "application delivery" market? Some pretty interesting things, actually.
Like adding app smarts to your routers and switches, and then tying them to your app switches and WAN optim, actually gives you an end 2 end solution (we call it an "application delivery network"). And more bang for your application buck.
And then there's the new products we're announcing -- like new virtualized app switching in a sub-$16K USD appliance form factor (the ACE 4710 appliance). And WAN optimization for the remote user, via desktop software client -- called WAAS Mobile.
Here's what one European attending publication had to say about Cisco at the event:
http://www.news.com/Cisco-speeds-up-mobile-workers-application-access/2100-1012_3-6227140.html?tag=item
But most interesting is what the software vendors themselves say about what Cisco can do for their customers' apps + networks:
http://newsroom.cisco.com/dlls/2008/ekits/exec_commentary.pdf
Stay tuned for more to come. Or share your experience with application delivery products and deployments with a posting back...
Posted by Mark Weiner at 08:47 AM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
October 23, 2007
WAN Optimization -- Where Should It Go?
We just submitted our thoughts on this topic in a Network World article this week:
http://www.networkworld.com/newsletters/frame/2007/1022wan1.html
More and more, we are seeing customers integrating their WAN optimization deployments within their Integrated Services Routers (ISR). Whether it's part of a larger router refresh project or they have open slots in their existing ISR, the value is increasingly clear at both a technical and business level of leveraging a single chassis for WAN connectivity and acceleration.
From a business-level, customers like Norcraft (a leader in kitchen and bathroom cabinetry) have seen cost reductions in rack space, power, MTBF and fewer support contracts that can total up to 70% less operating expenses (see linked story above). From a technical level, seamless integration with existing WAN and router-based services like QoS, monitoring and reporting are equally or even more important, as many VoIP customers can attest to when their QoS (and VoIP quality) is impacted.
What are your thoughts on WAN optimization and where/how it should be deployed? What's worked for you or your industry colleagues?
Find out more of our thoughts in this paper posted at Webtorials:
http://www.webtorials.com/abstracts/Cisco90.htm
www.webtorials.com
Posted by Mark Weiner at 01:19 PM Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
September 19, 2007
How do YOU use WAN optimization?
WAN optimization has become one of the "hot" technolgies within the networking -- and broader IT -- communities over the last 24 months. Market sizing (Gartner and others note it will be +/- $1B USD very shortly) reflects the rapid adoption of this technology.
Much of this fast adoption is due to the fact that it: 1) Addresses a very real set of problems (more on this shortly), 2) Has a very clear set of ROI calculations and/or problem resolutions (e.g. measurable application response times), and 3) Covers a range of IT challenges and sectors (branch server consolidation, application performance over WAN, bandwidth costs, data storage in branch).
So here's my question to our blog readers: do YOU use WAN optimization today? If so, exactly WHAT do you use it for? How do you measure success on your investment? Hard #'s or soft ones?
I'll throw out the first example: a large phone service provider/retailer started deploying WAAS earlier this year in their data center and retail branches across North America. They have recently found they saved 3.2 Tb (yes, that's TERAbits) of WAN traffic and related expense within a one month period. While consolidating branch infrastructure and reducing TCO from that.
Would be keen to hear your experience with your WAN optimization deployment...
Posted by Mark Weiner at 09:53 AM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
May 29, 2007
Smarter than a Fifth Grader
I know that counting numbers, ratios, and comparative percentages can be challenging, even for professional adults. For example, taking a ratio like "we beat our competitor 98% of the time this quarter". A simple enough equation -- "98 of 100 times we won." However, to make that equation have any value, you first have to get accurate underlying data. Then you can do the math and hopefully win a round at "Smarter than a Fifth Grader".
But getting the initial data right isn't always so easy. Or maybe just not in everyone's best interest. Take for example Cisco's recent entrance into the rapidly growing "WAN optimization" market. A hot market by anyone's standards -- the market analysts see it as nearly $600M last year (2006) and growing to $800M-$1B over the next 2-3 years. Cisco itself can claim around 500 new customers in the last 6 months, and nearly 1000 to date.
So if you extrapolate that math from the ratio we noted above -- other vendors claiming 98% win rate in their external reports and reporter calls -- then the total market must be HUGE, since this sample vendor must have won 25,000+ customers over that same six months (25,000 = 500 Cisco wins @ 2% of market). But here's where the numbers and ratios we noted above can be challenging -- the noted vendor in this example claims only 2000 customers to date, and that's from a very recent announcement.
The impact of these math errors can often have far reaching consequences, with even trade magazines, full-scale business publications and Wall St. analysts covering these "equations" without verifying the background data.
Smarter than a fifth grader? If we're talking about people possibly "adjusting" market data to deliver smart-sounding ratios, absolutely at high school-level. If we're talking about actually believing those numbers without solid data to back it up, then no way -- you'll lose to the fifth grader every time.
Are you smarter than a fifth grader? Am I? Let's talk about it.
Posted by Mark Weiner at 11:05 AM Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)
April 30, 2007
Power & Cooling – More Ways to Skin the Cat
By now it’s more than clear that power and cooling are one of (if not THE) top concern for data center architects and many CIOs today. Simple data points show that power consumption by servers in data centers has doubled from 2003 (5.6 million) to 2005 (10.3 million). The power needed for these servers and associated infrastructure would require 5 power plants at 1000 megawatts output each to support this load.
That was two years ago…
Certainly servers are the primary culprit for data center power consumption – and a major area for vendor focus in power reduction. (See the research report from Jonathan Koomey of Lawrence Berkeley National Lab http://enterprise.amd.com/Downloads/svrpwrusecompletefinal.pdf). What is not as clear to many data center, storage and network IT professionals is that nearly *all* aspects of data center infrastructure can be optimized for power consumption, as well as lower resulting TCO.
Storage and SAN virtualization has grown significantly over the last 2-3 years, and can provide major power savings. See Enterprise Strategy Group’s recent research report on the benefits of SAN switch virtualization http://www.cisco.com/en/US/netsol/ns674/networking_solutions_sub_solution_home.html
Newer yet is the idea of virtualized appliances, be they network components, security systems, or other devices. While server virtualization is now widely known and increasingly deployed, very few data center networks today leverage virtualization to get more use of fixed infrastructure – short of virtual LANS (VLAN) and virtual private networks (VPN), which are 10+ year old technologies.
Today, vendors like Cisco are taking virtualization to new levels across the entire set of infrastructure in the data center: storage switches/directors (MDS), application networking (ACE), and security (firewall module for Catalyst). The benefits of virtualization are real and multi-reaching: capex savings, faster and less time-consuming operations, and visibly lower power and cooling.
For example on power and cooling, one Cisco ACE module can easily support 50 individual application instances (same app/multiple groups, or 50 different apps). The power/cooling advantages of virtualization for that scenario are pretty compelling: 220 watts/hour for an ACE module vs. 363 watts for a standalone load balancer or app switch. Multiply that out over four years, and you get 7.7 million watts used vs. 12.7 million. Now multiply 12.7 million by fifty point app switches and you’re looking at over 600 million watts vs. under 10 million! The resulting savings for this example is between $330,000 and $500,000+ depending on regional power rates. The same benefits can be seen if you deploy virtualized firewalls or storage switches.
So the next time your data center design team looks at virtualization, think beyond the virtual server, and think about the broader network and infrastructure. Your finance team, and power company, will definitely notice.
Posted by Mark Weiner at 03:27 PM Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)
