Last time, we discussed the factors driving the need for automation. Today, we will look at some specific examples of innovative solutions to important technical and business issues.

Over the last year or so, we have written multiple newsletters about the spate of new products being introduced to the marketplace to perform some form of application optimization. This includes products to do sophisticated compression, caching, TCP acceleration and QoS. This also includes products such as Wide Area File Services (WAFS) that are designed to accelerate a particular application.

While having a wide range of products to choose from is often a good thing, it can also cause problems. For example, many of the organizations we work with are not always sure which application optimization techniques they should implement. This confusion is one of the reasons why many organizations only deploy application optimization techniques in a limited fashion.

As mentioned in the last newsletter, one of the factors driving the movement to automate IT processes is that the network is becoming increasingly complex. The type of decisions that IT groups need to make to determine which application optimization techniques to implement is a good example of that complexity. In response to this complexity, Orbital Data has announced a product, OrbitalEdge, that does automatic discovery and configuration. OrbitalEdge also automatically applies the right optimization techniques. Automation of that type holds the promise of significantly reducing the complexity associated with application acceleration.

Orbital Data has also announced that its application acceleration solution will support the entire enterprise, including remote offices, home offices, and mobile users. This holds the promise of extending the benefits of application acceleration to a company's remote employees who previously could not take advantage of these techniques.

We would like to hear from you. What reservations do you have about automation in general and automating application in particular? How important is it to your company to be able to extend application acceleration out to remote offices, home offices, and mobile users?

Steve Taylor is president of Distributed Networking Associates and publisher/editor-in-chief of Webtorials. Jim Metzler is vice president of Ashton, Metzler & Associates.