Webtorials, in a joint venture with Layland Consulting, recently released the 2009 version of the "Application Acceleration Challenge." It is currently available here.

With a subtitle of “Keys to Getting By in Hard Times,” the Challenge has submissions from key players in this market – Cisco Systems, Citrix Systems, Blue Coat Systems and Riverbed Technology – each of whom offer their unique solution to making sure you’re getting the best possible performance out of your network.

As stated by Robin Layland, President of Layland Consulting, “Acceleration can significantly reduce ‘normal’ response time over the WAN. Two examples demonstrate how an accelerator works. One of the problems with server consolidation is that the application level protocol used by Microsoft, CIFS, can significantly increase response time. When the user requests a file, it is sent in blocks of data. When the server sends a block it waits for an acknowledgement before sending the next block. Over a local LAN this start/stop process was not noticeable but over the WAN it can introduce significant delays. Microsoft has recently improved CIFS so that it sends multiple blocks before requiring an acknowledgement but it still is not as efficient as an accelerator can make it over the WAN. Accelerators reduce the latency with CIFS by spoofing the protocol at each end… Without an acceleration solution, even with large and fast amounts of bandwidth, the server consolidation project may run into problems with users complaining about response time because of CIFS.

“Acceleration also speeds up Web applications. The accelerator caches objects and can pre-fetch objects based on past usage. When a page requests a common object there is a good chance that the accelerator already has a copy. This allows the accelerator to immediately send the object cutting out the WAN entirely.”

Robin then offers some guidance as to what to look for the in the participants’ responses. These areas include mobility, server functions at the branch office, accelerate and optimizing your specific applications, visibility, bandwidth management, TCO, and security.

Since the odds are very good that this year it will be tougher than ever to have a travel budget to be able to attend trade shows to evaluate your various options, this Challenge provides a great head-start on comparing the various offerings.

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