We have written a number of newsletters about WAN optimization techniques, covering a range of technical topics including caching, compression, TCP acceleration and application acceleration. We have also explored architectural issues such as the pros and cons of applying the various techniques at alternative layers of the OSI model.

We are currently in the process of doing some research into the organizational issues that impact the ability of IT organizations to be successful with application delivery. The preliminary results are fascinating. We were pleased to see that only 2% of the 151 survey respondents indicated that managing application performance was losing importance in their organization. On a less positive note, less than half of the respondents indicated that their organization has well understood performance objectives for their company’s key business applications. Having these objectives means that it is relatively easy to make decisions relative to application and network design. Conversely, the lack of these guidelines means that decisions about application and network design are somewhat arbitrary.

We were also pleased to see that 45% of the survey respondents indicated that their organization makes a significant attempt to discover who is using their network and what they are doing. However, it was disturbing to see that only 19% of the respondents indicated that their organization performed this function well.

What really intrigued us were the answers to the question of what are the most significant impediments to more successful application delivery. According to the respondents, the most significant impediment is the fact that their current processes are inadequate. The second is the difficulty in explaining the causes of application degradation and getting any real buy-in. Neither of these impediments has very much to do with technology.

What do you think are the most significant impediments to successful application delivery? We will leave the survey up and running at Webtorials for another few days and look forward to your input.

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