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.