Strangeloop AppScaler for Microsoft ASP.NET Unveiled at Microsoft Tech.Ed

June 4, 2007; 06:49 AM
Strangeloop Networks today announced the unveiling of its newly launched AppScaler™ appliance at Tech.Ed 2007, Microsoft’s premier annual conference and trade show for IT professionals and developers. The Strangeloop AppScaler appliance is the industry’s first network appliance designed to optimize performance for dynamic Web applications developed with the Microsoft ASP.NET framework. With the Strangeloop AppScaler appliance enterprises can boost the performance and scalability of Microsoft ASP.NET and AJAX-based applications tenfold, reduce bandwidth costs by up to 80 percent, free developers from costly application tuning and deliver new features and applications faster and at lower cost.

"As enterprises increasingly deploy rich Internet applications, they face a difficult challenge in delivering acceptable performance," said Joe Skorupa, research vice president, Enterprise Network Services and Infrastructure at Gartner. "It is critical, therefore, that they look for application fluent solutions that target application performance while reducing demands on the infrastructure."

“As an on-demand provider, our customers trust us with a critical part of their business and count on us to ensure their website delivers exceptional customer experiences and high ROI for their online lead generation activities,” said Jackie Reid, Director of Client Services at Marqui, an on-demand marketing and lead generation company. “Strangeloop’s innovative AppScaler appliance is the first network device we have seen that addresses ASP.NET performance issues. In lab tests, the Strangeloop AppScaler has dramatically reduced bandwidth consumption, improved server throughput, and overall response time. I can’t wait to deliver these benefits to our customers.”

“As developers create more and more complex dynamic Web applications that must serve more and more users, they often encounter scale and performance issues,” said Keith Smith, group product manager on the Developer Tools Team at Microsoft Corp. “Strangeloop AppScaler provides ASP.NET developers hardware-based, real-time optimization of their applications that requires zero changes to their code or Web server configuration. With ASP.NET and AppScaler, organizations can quickly deliver richer user experiences featuring increased performance and improved bandwidth utilization.”

Enterprises are increasingly embracing new dynamic interactive web technologies, to reach customers, employees and partners. Across industry, government and education, IT departments are under extreme pressure to rapidly deliver new web-based capabilities to larger and larger user communities. Innovative organizations are using the Microsoft ASP.NET framework, and focusing on rapid feature development. They are creating rich, dynamic applications, where pages are customized at every click and stitched together from multiple databases. As they roll out these dynamic web applications, organizations are encountering significant performance bottlenecks. They need a new network-based solution that removes these bottlenecks and allows them to continue to reap the benefits of the ASP.NET development environment.

The Strangeloop AppScaler has been named a finalist for the 2007 Best of Tech.Ed Award in the Web Development and Infrastructure category. Strangeloop will be showcasing the AppScaler appliance for the first time in booth # 909 at Microsoft Tech.Ed at the Orange County Convention Center, Orlando, Florida, June 4-8, 2007.

The Strangeloop AppScaler appliance combines the power of caching and data management techniques with the speed and agility of an intelligent network device to optimize ASP.NET applications in real-time, in the network, without code or infrastructure changes. The key to real-time optimization is Strangeloop’s Dynamic Choreography—ensuring the right data is in the right place at the right time and that unnecessary transfers are reduced. Dynamic Choreography combines real-time visibility and learning from application behavior with caching treatments to implement specific ASP.NET optimization features in real-time. The Strangeloop AppScaler implements these changes without changing the code, the servers, the network infrastructure or the application logic. By applying Choreography treatments in-line, the Strangeloop AppScaler appliance can immediately respond to growing, unpredictable demands of dynamic web applications.

“More and more enterprises are adopting the ASP.NET framework for its promise of bringing new features to market quickly,” said Jonathan Bixby, president and chief executive officer of Strangeloop Networks. “We are excited to unveil the first network appliance to help enterprises take advantage of this promise at Tech.Ed2007. By optimizing ASP.NET applications in real-time, in the network, enterprises can deliver both new features and exceptional website performance.”

The Strangeloop AppScaler appliance—based on 64-bit, multiprocessor commercial computing —is in beta trials. Commercial availability is scheduled for September 2007.

The Strangeloop team will be contributing more than the AppScaler appliance to Tech.Ed2007.

• On June 5^th at 4:30 p.m. Strangeloop’s Chief Architect and co-founder, Kent Alstad, will moderate a session on Optimizing ASP.NET Sites for Performance and Scalability.
• On June 8^th Strangeloop co-founder and Product Evangelist, Richard Campbell, will lead a 1 p.m. Breakout session, titled ASP.NET Scaling Tips & Tricks.

About Strangeloop Networks

Strangeloop Networks accelerates dynamic Web applications with unique, framework-specific solutions that require no changes to software coding or hardware infrastructure and that free developers to focus on providing enterprises with value-added features. With the Strangeloop AppScaler for Microsoft ASP.NET and AJAX, enterprises dramatically shorten code cycles, improve application performance and throughput, more efficiently use bandwidth, achieve greater return on their investment in information technology (IT) staff and network resources and boost customer satisfaction. Strangeloop is based in Vancouver, B.C. For more information, visit www.strangeloopnetworks.com.

About Marqui

Marqui packages vision, design, and technology to help forward-thinking organizations transform their businesses online. The company’s on-demand web marketing solution has helped over 200 organizations derive more value out of their content and brand through effective management and measurement of their online content and communications. Marqui’s growing customer list includes BC Ferries, the Phoenix Suns, BCIT, the David Suzuki Foundation, Cruise West, the American Marketing Association, MDS, Nexen, Simon Fraser University, Sybase, the BC TIA, Shriners Children’s Hospitals, and Tillamook Cheese. Marqui is a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner and can be found at www.marqui.com.

The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.