Citrix's New Netscaler Release: A Major Revamp

摘要

Citrix Systems Inc. Is calling netscaler 9, the newest version of its Web application delivery system, is a major release, not simply an upgrade. "It's a dot-oh release," says Greg Smith, director of product marketing for Citrix's application networking group. NetScaler allows data centre servers to make more efficient use of their compute resources by offloading processes like secure socket layer encryption, data compression, and the myriad other tasks that aren't core to the server's function of delivering applications, Smith says. "It's not uncommon for 60 per cent of capacity (to be spent) managing these processes rather than delivering applications," Smith says. New in this version are the AppExpert templates, which provide hundreds of deployment details for optimizing applications like Microsoft SharePoint, Oracle E-Business Suite and SAP. The templates can be used as-is, or customized to the individual data centre environment. According to Smith, it takes some of the guesswork out of optimization. "I don't have to become an expert in (the application)," he says.