Citrix has introduced a new technology that reduces the total cost of ownership (TCO) that Web 2.0 applications, spanning gaming, banking, auctions, messaging and news feeds, are placing on server infrastructures.
NetScaler is the first application delivery controller to streamline this process by ‘pushing’ data directly to thousands of users concurrently, offloading web servers from this burdensome task.
According to Citrix, NetScaler reduces overall Web 2.0 TCO by up to 90pc and server capacity needed for Web 2.0 application by up to 10 times, while at the same time acting as the only application delivery controller to support proactive push capabilities.
“In today’s busy world, end users are increasingly making use of interactive Web 2.0 technologies that allow them to stay on top of personal and business activities by pushing relevant information and updates to them automatically,” said Damian Saunders of Citrix Systems.
“Powering these applications is an expensive proposition for providers, often requiring them to purchase racks of new servers to support even moderate numbers of application users. NetScaler’s new capabilities enable it to free up backend servers from inefficient connection management tasks, thus shrinking the number of servers needed.
“This reduced server footprint in the data centre improves server utilisation and allows a smaller set of servers to accomplish the same business tasks, cutting server costs by up to 90pc by decreasing power, cooling and operational overhead.”
A key characteristic of the new NetScaler Web 2.0 Push technology is its ability to enable ‘publish-and-subscribe’ semantics and to support the proactive push of data from the server to the client.
This approach can be used to deliver continuous streams of new or updated information, creating the illusion of real-time interaction. The result is a highly dynamic user interface that is considerably more responsive than would otherwise be possible.
NetScaler can now transmit data to application users directly from the NetScaler systems deployed in front of the data centre, relieving the backend server infrastructure from having to manage tens or hundreds of thousands of individual connections.
“AOL is investing in Web 2.0 server infrastructure, including support for server push techniques on our Citrix NetScaler MPX systems,” said Jacob Rosenberg, senior technical director, AOL.
“Application delivery controllers such as NetScaler play a key role in reducing the cost of AOL’s infrastructure and significantly improving server utilisation.”
By John Kennedy
