Citrix announces apps acceleration; disaster-recovery gear

Company's iForum customer meeting features new products.

Citrix this week is introducing a streamlined edition of its NetScaler Web front-end appliance for customers who don't need or can't afford the full-blown version.

The company also is announcing at its iForum customer conference a USB fob-based disaster-recovery product that IBM plans to incorporate in its Business Continuity and Resiliency Services.

The new appliance, called Citrix NetScaler Application Switch Standard Edition with Global Server Load Balancing, sits between data centers and is designed to speed up SSL connections, multiplex TCP sessions, accelerate applications and compress HTTP traffic.

To continue reading, register here and become an Insider. You'll get free access to premium content from CIO, Computerworld, CSO, InfoWorld, and Network World. See more Insider content or sign in.

Citrix this week is introducing a streamlined edition of its NetScaler Web front-end appliance for customers who don't need or can't afford the full-blown version.

The company also is announcing at its iForum customer conference a USB fob-based disaster-recovery product that IBM plans to incorporate in its Business Continuity and Resiliency Services.

The new appliance, called Citrix NetScaler Application Switch Standard Edition with Global Server Load Balancing, sits between data centers and is designed to speed up SSL connections, multiplex TCP sessions, accelerate applications and compress HTTP traffic.

This device is tuned for supporting a Citrix Presentation Server environment for thin-client access to applications in distributed data centers.If one data center is unavailable or overloaded, the NetScaler standard edition can redirect traffic to an available site that is less busy. This is done without any intervention by the user attempting to access the application.

This capability was previously possible using Citrix's more expensive application switch Enterprise Edition, which starts at $35,000. The new switch equipped with the load-balancing module costs $27,500. It has been customized for support of Presentation Server and for simplified configuration compared with the Enterprise edition, Citrix says.

The company also is announcing that IBM is adopting its Project Kent as part of IBM's Virtual Workplace Continuity service. Project Kent is Citrix's name for an effort designed to automate and streamline employee notification in times of crisis, distribute updates, coordinate access to applications and promote collaboration.

It is based on a USB fob that gets distributed to employees and contains software that creates an SSL VPN connection to a Citrix SSL VPN gateway at the corporate data center. Over that connection, a separate GoToMyPC server connects to the remote machine and makes sure a softphone is installed and up to date for telecommunications to the remote user. Project Kent also calls for a headset to support the softphone.

The fob facilitates remote access to Citrix Presentation Server for access to applications.

The Project Kent gear, which has no commercial name yet, can be used for employees to receive company information during an emergency such as a hurricane that keeps workers out of corporate offices. It gathers data about where employees are and how they can be reached, and updates them on relevant developments.

IBM says it will incorporate Project Kent gear in its services to help customers transition work to backup facilities or remote sites during emergencies. IBM expects to incorporate the Citrix product into IBM services early next year.

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.