Radware Adds Compression, Multiplexing To Application Accelerator

Radware is adding compression and multiplexing capabilities to its application-acceleration switches, technology the company claims will increase Web application throughput while decreasing bandwidth needs.

Radware's new compression card for its CertainT 100 application-acceleration switch adds the capability to compress HTTP traffic and to streamline HTTP requests, which can significantly speed Web application performance. Michael Rothschild, senior manager of product management at the Mahwah, N.J.-based Radware, said such increased throughput is especially important to enterprises and providers of transaction-based Web applications, because of the time-sensitive nature of the client-to-server interactions.

"The value proposition is to improve the user experience while also saving bandwidth costs [from the server side]," Rothschild said. The new compression card, available now, costs $6,000, and can be added to existing models of the switch. Pricing for the base model CertainT 100 switch ranges from $8,000 to $30,000, depending on configuration, according to Radware.

Rothschild said the compression technology and the multiplexing technology (which Radware said streamlines the number of HTTP requests over a smaller number of back-end connections) in the new card are steps that show Radware isn't standing still with its CertainT 100 technology, which previously centered on using SSL offloading to speed server throughput.

Though none are yet announced, Rothschild said the company is looking at other technologies -- including XML processing offloading -- to add into its stable. An expanded list of attributes will probably be necessary going forward in the acceleration-appliance market, which already has strong entries from players like DataPower, Redline Networks and NetScaler, which also announced enhancements to its products earlier this week.Radware said it will officially announce and demonstrate its new compression card at next week's Networld + Interop trade show in Las Vegas.