Foundry Networks, Inktomi Cache In

Foundry Networks said today its ServerIron server load balancer and transparent caching switch has been certified for interoperation with Inktomi Corp.'s Traffic Server network cache.

Financial details were not announced. Inktomi and Foundry said they would jointly work together on sales and co-marketing initiatives.

According to the companies, the combined products enable Internet providers to install transparent caching in their networks. Transparent caching allows network administrators to deploy caches anywhere in the network without modifying end-user browsers. Currently these products support caching for standard Web protocols with additional protocols support to be announced at a future date.

Inktomi's Traffic Server is based on cluster and parallel technologies, proving a carrier-class network cache to for Internet infrastructure providers. Traffic Server is designed to scale to more than a terabyte of data and millions of users.

Foundry said its ServerIron switch is aimed at ISPs and enterprises, offering a resilient, low-cost server load balancing switch that provides up to 3 times the port density of competing solutions. The company said that ServerIron's new transparent cache switching accelerates Internet response time and reduces WAN operating costs by redirecting web traffic destined to remote Internet hosts to a group of local cache servers.

"Inktomi's carrier-class cache products provide the scalability and cutting-edge features that Internet providers need to compete," said Bobby Johnson, President and CEO of Foundry Networks. "Combined with Foundry's ServerIron switch, the Inktomi cache products provide web users with significant improvement in response time and service availability," continued Johnson.

"The Foundry ServerIron product provides excellent price/performance, high reliability and the advanced functionality that our customers demand," said Paul Gauthier, Chief Technology Officer of Inktomi. "We look forward to working with the Foundry team to deliver the next generation of network performance," continued Gauthier.

A preview of Foundry and Inktomi's transparent caching solutions will be demonstrated at the upcoming ISPCON Fall '98 show Sept. 28 - Oct. 1, 1998 at the San Jose McEnery Convention Center.