Cisco Systems Inc.'s LocalDirector was one of the first and most dominant load-balancing products, but options from other vendors are quickly multiplying. Also at Internet World, RND Networks Inc. will introduce a new version of its WSD Pro load-balancing device that can support up to 128,000 simultaneous connections. And last month startup HolonTech Corp. introduced the first in the company's HyperFlow family of load balancers, the eight-port SP800. The 16-port XP1600 will be availa ble later this month. As a result, industry experts say, network managers will want to look before they leap into this new product category.
Companies maintaining popular Web sites say that load-balancing products are practically mandatory.
The device is designed to sit between a company's Internet gateway and Web servers, monitor the servers, and distribute requests based on availability and performance. Options for this type of device are increasing. Version 5.1 of RND's WSD Pro, for example, layers specialized software on top of routing hardware. Version 5.1 also has polling agents that collect data on Web-server performance. HolonT ech's HyperFlow units, on the other hand, are built on a switch-based architecture.