Webtorials, in a joint venture with Layland Consulting, recently issued the 2008 version of the "Application Delivery Challenge" (available at Webtorials). As stated by Layland President Robin Layland, "The data center is the heart of the corporation's information infrastructure. A well-functioning data center is critical to keeping users, customers, and management happy. Selecting the right solutions for the data center is one of the most important tasks facing network managers. The Application Delivery Controller (ADC) is at the center of any data center architecture and having the right ADC is critical to keeping everyone happy."

He adds: “The ADC plays a key role in directing traffic, defending and securing the data center, and accelerating applications, while controlling the ever escalating cost of the data center. How do you know which ADC is right? What are the key functions and requirements for an ADC? The Application Delivery Challenge will help you answer these questions and better understand which vendors can assist in building a high-performance data center.”

The participants in this year’s challenge include Foundry Networks and Citrix, which both approach the issue primarily from an equipment perspective, plus Akamai, which approaches application delivery as an integral part of a service.

The challenge format is particular useful this year in that it offers the opportunity to look at the positioning of application delivery as a service or as a product. This will be an important distinction as we weather the current economic situation – revisiting the perennial question of “buy vs. build.” And this is a great way to look at the advantages of each approach.

The challenge includes a paper where each of the participants offers their answer to a challenge set forth by Robin, augmented by on-demand podcast interviews with a representative of each of the three companies.

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