LAS VEGAS–In a partnership with Akamai, IBM has announced new offerings designed to speed the delivery of Web and cloud applications to the employees, partners and customers who rely on them.
At the IBM Impact 2011 conference here, IBM officials said the new offerings are part of a multiphase initiative that integrates IBM WebSphere technology with Akamai’s global application delivery network.
As part of its relationship with Akamai, IBM is introducing WebSphere Application Accelerator for Public Networks, which is available now. In the future, IBM plans to introduce two additional offerings, WebSphere Application Accelerator for Hybrid Networks and a supporting product–IBM DataPower Edge Appliance XE82.
IBM WebSphere Application Accelerator for Public Networks helps businesses deliver applications faster by reducing the time it takes for information to move from the data center across the Internet to users on the public Internet, IBM said. The solution also helps protect and secure applications through a scalable network of tens of thousands of servers that can be instantly called upon to serve unexpected bursts of traffic or to protect against intentionally malicious attacks. WebSphere Application Accelerator for Public Networks is available now in the United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, New Zealand and Singapore, and will be rolled out in other countries over the course of the year, IBM officials said.
Moreover, to speed enterprise access to public cloud and software-as-a-service (SAAS) applications, IBM plans to introduce IBM WebSphere Application Accelerator for Hybrid Networks, which will create a hybrid network between private enterprise networks and the public Internet. Organizations seeking to increase the speed and reliability of their interactions with public cloud and SAAS applications will benefit from this offering, the company said.
And to bring Akamai’s technology into their private networks, organizations using IBM WebSphere Application Accelerator for Hybrid Networks will require IBM’s DataPower Edge Appliance XE82. This appliance is expected to give enterprises a first-of-its-kind solution that brings the benefits of the Akamai network inside their firewalls, speeding access to applications hosted in the public cloud.
Indeed, by monitoring the strain on data center resources, IBM expects the Edge Appliance to add a new layer of intelligence to the new WebSphere Application Accelerator solutions, company officials said. Through this blend of locally owned and remotely rented network and computing infrastructure, clients will be able to boost application availability and speed both inbound and outbound network traffic.
For more, read the eWEEK article: IBM Partners with Akamai to Speed Apps Across the Web from Cloud to Enterprise.
