Cisco Cisco ACE Application Control Engine Module Libro blanco
White Paper
© 2008 Cisco Systems, Inc. All rights reserved. This document is Cisco Public Information.
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The Cisco ACE solution’s industry-leading scalability also reinforces business continuity as
installations expand. Enterprises can scale the device throughput capacity from 4 to 8 to 16 Gbps
with simple software license upgrades. This architecture avoids the need for purchasing new
hardware, which can take weeks to purchase, install, and test, as greater performance becomes a
requirement. As a result, organizations circumvent any application downtime and degradation
associated with hardware-centric capacity upgrades.
The role-based administration function enables multiple logical devices to be provisioned in
parallel by separate IT personnel—for example, those in charge of different applications—for tasks
such as configuration, monitoring, and routine maintenance. The capability for different IT
organizations to manage and maintain application control of disparate IT resources from a single
physical box in tandem, rather than linearly, speeds application deployment and problem
resolution, making applications available to end users for a larger percentage of the time and
further enhancing business continuity.
Application Acceleration: More Speed, Less Traffic
Numerous studies indicate that user patience in waiting for an application after logging in runs out
after 10 seconds. A longer delay poses the risk that users will attempt to circumvent the system.
Users’ rejection of business applications translates into poor returns on application deployment
investments as well as degraded user productivity, customer service, and ultimately, sales and
revenue.
Because web-based applications are communications intensive, providing LAN-like service over
the web can be a challenge. To meet this challenge, Cisco ACE products use a range of
acceleration capabilities to boost remote end-user application response times. Among them are
compression, flash-forward, and delta encoding features. These functions minimize distance-
imposed latency when application requests are served to remote users across a WAN and reduce
the number of round-trip data transfers and messages required for any HTTP-based application.
Cisco customers using these acceleration technologies have achieved up to 500 percent
improvement in response times.
Optimized Server Operations Leads to Lower Capital Expenditures
Cisco ACE application switches offload TCP communications management functions and SSL
encryption from application servers so that the servers can devote their computing cycles entirely
to their primary mission: quickly fulfilling user requests for application content. Using this offloading
capability, Cisco ACE installations have resulted in up to 80 percent additional application-request
processing capacity.
The offloading of communications management and SSL encryption optimizes each server’s
performance, reduces capital investments in server capacity, and minimizes delays in application
availability that result from server inefficiencies. Consider, for example, the loss in e-commerce
revenue when customers experience response-time lags in shopping cart additions and, in
frustration, abandon sales. Increasing server availability is one important way that Cisco ACE
keeps applications continuously available and high performing, attributes that contribute greatly to
an organization’s overall business success.