Enterprise network managers looking to speed up Web content delivery and accelerate application performance need to capture and optimize each step in the delivery process.

So says a recently published paper by Port80 Software, a maker of Web acceleration technologies. From optimizing software code to controlling cache to compressing HTTP, the paper details how enterprise network managers can first measure their Web site performance and then tackle the technical challenges that may be the cause of poor customer service and unsatisfying end-user experiences.

Enterprise network managers should first take a look at the time required to load a Web page, says Port80, because that is one of the most important factors in end-user satisfaction. One part of page load time is time to first byte (TTFB). TTFB represents the visitor's initial confirmation that the Web site or page is responding to the user request. Following TTFB is throughput, or how many requests can be served in a given time period. When these two metrics fail, the report says, end users experience poor performance.

"If a Web server's source code and management software are not optimized to keep pace with rising site traffic and application complexity, administrators will waste server resources and bandwidth, and users will be presented with slower, easier-to-abandon Web sites," the paper says.

According to Port80, the three strategies to optimizing Web infrastructure are code optimization, cache control and HTTP compression. The company says these three technologies focus on sending as little data as possible to optimize performance in a Web application's front-end code and on the origin Web server delivering that content to Web browsers.

Next time: More on the three approaches to accelerating Web site performance.

Ann Bednarz is associate news editor at Network World.