CacheFlow Inc. Monday introduced a new content delivery system that enables
enterprises to roll out streaming applications onto their intranet
infrastructures.
The content networker weighed in at the NetWorld+Interop conference in Las
Vegas with the cIQ Starter Kit, which was created for organizations that
have four or more remote offices; a company looking for a new way to manage
corporate content and deploy the latest multimedia applications across the
firm’s intranet would be an ideal candidate for cIQ.
As content delivery specialists are becoming more and more aware of the
daunting tasks ahead of them in pushing dynamic content across networks,
CacheFlow recognizes that the growing masses of intranet content pose
threats to a user’s quality of experience. Eventually, such infrastructure
limitations staunch the deployment of e-learning applications and Webcasts.
What the cIQ kit was sculpted to do, is to allow businesses to manage where
and how multimedia and Web content gets populated to the network edge to
make sure existing network services are unfettered. CacheFow has described
cIQ essentially as a “CDN-in-a-box” that will facilitate employee
communications, deliver secure corporate content, as well as help intranets
carry on with one of their foundation functions — helping enterprises
reduce travel time and other costs associated with training.
The cIQ Starter Kit includes CacheFlow’s cIQ Director, 6000 Series cIQ Edge
Accelerators, 600 Series cIQ Edge Accelerators
streaming media licenses (either Real or Microsoft), HTTP caching and
content delivery and a WebTrends Enterprise Suite.
Peter Firstbrook, research analyst at META Group, said many enterprises are
looking to improve their intranets with rich media, but are told to get
capable infrastructures to handle streaming media. Something like
CacheFlow’s cIQ kit, then, is an appropriate tool.
“A centrally managed enterprise content delivery network will be a critical
component to enable the efficient delivery of rich content that maximize the
end-users’ experience, without disrupting other mission critical network
traffic,” Firstbrook said.
One customer who has beta tested the cIQ attested to its potential. John
Hoenemier, director of network engineering at
LRN, The Legal Knowledge Co., said enterprises can customize the CDN for
their businesses by “adding more appliances at edge locations, integrating
the CDN with publishing and storage environments, and applying content
filtering rules to users.”
The new cIQ kit is available now through CacheFlow and its channel partners;
pricing depends on individual needs.
CacheFlow is the latest networking company to release a CDN in a field that
consists of numerous players, including Akamai Inc., Digital Island and
Inktomi Corp. Storage companies, no doubt driving a related sector, are
joining the march for CDN solutions, too. Network Appliance rolled out its first CDN solutions for enterprises in April.
