* Client software: The next generation of acceleration technology
Telecommuters and mobile workers may soon be able to take advantage of the acceleration technologies that make serving applications from a centralized data center tolerable for branch offices.
Software applets, or small applications that can be downloaded by a client browser, could enable road warriors and telecommuters to experience the speedy data transfers and application delivery fixes that currently enable remote and branch office workers to get LAN-like experience over corporate WANs.
Industry watchers say application acceleration and WAN optimization vendors should be laying out plans – following in the footsteps of technology innovators such as ICT Compress and its AcceleNet 3.0 Enterprise – to package their acceleration and optimization technologies as small software applications, easily downloaded by a client browser to connect back to data center appliances and software.
Dubbed by Gartner as soft WAN optimization controllers, or WOCs, the technology is being driven by corporate users need to support consistent remote workers and telecommuters that are doing so because of natural disasters, such as the Avian bird flu.
WOC products are deployed symmetrically, on either end of a WAN link, and improve the performance of applications accessed across the WAN. The technologies typically address bandwidth consumption, latency and protocol issues. Gartner identifies companies such as Packeteer, Stratacache and NetApp as leaders in this market. The soft WOC would help mobile workers dealing with varying levels of Internet service and connectivity as well, says Joe Skorupa, a research director at Gartner.
“IT managers realize they can’t get a box for each mobile worker, but they can invest in lightweight software applications,” he says. “They need to understand who their mobile workers are and how their end users use applications, but soft WOC technology could be the answer for poor performance at a variety of locations.”
