VANCOUVER, B.C. - Caching specialist SpiderSoftware is taking a step beyond its software-only roots and later this month will introduce an appliance that customers can place in front of server farms, eliminating the need to rejigger Web server software.
SpiderBox is built on SpiderSoftware's flagship SpiderCache technology, which caches static and dynamic content, and rich media. Company executives say the caching software can speed up Web sites and reduce hardware demands by delivering frequently requested content from the cache, rather than having to return to origin servers to process each request.
SpiderBox requires no recoding of Web sites to handle dynamic content, as some caching products do, and its initial release, scheduled for May 29, will handle static content, rich media and full-page dynamic caching, meaning entire Web pages created on the fly can be cached.
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A second release, scheduled for July, will add support for partial-page dynamic content caching, so part of a page can be cached and the rest of the page can be updated more frequently. The SpiderSoftware technology lets businesses decide when to clear caches by time or event, so that a catalog Web page, for example, would be automatically cleared from the cache when a change is made in the database.
Greg Parker, CEO and president of SpiderSoftware, says the company is introducing Spiderbox for a few reasons. "One is that potential customers have said, 'We don't want to install anything on our Web servers. We just want to put a box in front of our Web server complex and be done with it.'"
The other reason is that the SpiderCache software currently runs on Microsoft's Internet Information Server in the Windows NT or 2000 environment and Apache in the Unix environment, and can't cache Web sites running on NetScape, for example.
Experts say users are looking for an easier way to use caching technology.
"We don't want to install more software on our Web servers," says an executive from an online banking firm who asked not to be identified. "We'd just like to put a box in front of the Web server farm and start caching content - static or dynamic."
Michael Hoch, an analyst with Aberdeen Group, says it's not surprising that network executives might look to avoid installing software on their Web servers.
"If they have a Web farm that's already up and running, they probably don't want to screw around with it too much," Hoch says. "SpiderSoftware's approach of offering an appliance that sits in front of that makes sense. You don't have to go around and screw with your server farm; you just put this in front of it."
SpiderSoftware competes with companies such as Chutney Technologies and Persistence Software, whose gear also sit in front of Web and application servers to cache dynamic content and off-load processing demands.
SpiderBox pricing starts at around $9,000 per appliance, depending on configuration.
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