Cisco has developed partitioning technology for its
high-end routers designed to enable users to run applications more
efficiently.
The company said its virtual partitioning module would enable IT
managers to create up to 250 logical devices that could be managed
and operated separately.
Called Cisco Application Control Engine (Ace), the technology
offers role-based access control capabilities that enable
management tasks to be delegated to distributed IT teams, while
keeping application delivery and policies centrally controlled,
Cisco said.
The Ace module also helps IT managers ensure that applications
are allocated adequate resources. Cisco said the module enabled
users to quickly add or change applications, simplify
infrastructure topologies, consolidate resources, and respond
rapidly to business demands.
This could dramatically improve application delivery workflow by
reducing the time and resources needed to deploy and manage the
network application infrastructure, Cisco said.
The technology could improve the performance of enterprise
applications. Gordon Simpson, vice-president of applied platform
technology at SAP, said, “The new Cisco application control engine
will enable our customers to further improve the speed and
performance of their SAP application environment, including
enhanced access to applications from remote branches across wide
area networks.”
Steve Broadhead, director at network research firm Broadband
Testing, said, “This whole application layer technology development
wave – focusing on both performance and security improvements – is
one that we see as redefining networking for the future.”
Broadhead said Ace was significant to Cisco’s Layer 7 traffic
optimisation strategy.
Last May, Cisco acquired Fineground, a provider of web
application acceleration technology. Through the £40m acquisition,
Cisco said it would be able to provide advanced application
acceleration across networks for secure and optimised delivery of
web-based applications.
The Ace module supports up to 16gbps of raw data throughput and
up to 345,000 connections per second. Several Ace modules can be
deployed in a Catalyst 6500 Series chassis for higher
throughput.
In addition, Ace offers high-availability and failover models,
including partitions between applications, within a chassis, across
a chassis in a datacentre, and between datacentres.
According to Cisco, Ace offers the first hardware-accelerated
protocol inspection and control engine integrated with application
delivery, as well as support for up to one million network address
translation entries.