A10 Networks Sets Industry Performance Records with AX Series Application Delivery Platforms

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 9, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- A10 Networks™, the technology leader in Application Networking, unveiled its new Advanced Core Operating System (ACOS) release 2.6.1 that supports new hardware and software models and feature enhancements for its flagship AX Series Application Delivery Controller (ADC) family, delivering the highest performance in their respective categories and providing comprehensive application focused capabilities. A10's AX Series ADCs are new generation server load balancers with an innovative 64-bit shared-memory and multi-process, multi-core, multi-CPU architecture that leaps the competition in performance, scalability, efficiency and flexibility.

"Release 2.6.1 supports A10's innovative Virtual Chassis System (aVCS), and has over 100 new features. We also fine-tuned ACOS to improve overall system performance," said Lee Chen, Founder and CEO for A10 Networks. "Many of our large customers prefer our Virtual Chassis System over competitors' fixed chassis systems. With aVCS, there is upfront savings of space, energy and cost and customers can add additional AX models as demand increases. Customers are increasingly choosing the AX Series over traditional platforms due to its unique capabilities, flexibility, scalability and overall value."

Updates to the AX Series family include:

• Performance Leading 64-bit Platforms To Scale Enterprise and Service Provider Data Centers
  • AX 3000-11-GCF: The new mid-range appliance is a compact 1U platform designed for running multiple enterprise applications, high density deployments, and multi-vendor data center consolidation.
    • Intel hex-core processor combined with ACOS doubles the performance of the quad-core AX 3000 with 850,000 Layer 4 connections per second (CPS).  Throughput is increased to 30 Gbps.
    • Includes four 10-Gigabit Fiber ports, eight Gigabit Copper ports, eight Gigabit Fiber ports, solid-state drive (SSD), redundant power supplies (RPS), removable smart fans and onboard ASIC hardware for SSL acceleration.
  • aVCS (AX Virtual Chassis System): Configure up to eight AX Series appliances in a virtual cluster, providing the highest performing ADC solution on the market with a cost effective "pay as you grow" model.
    • Delivers 300+ Gbps throughput and 24 million+ L4 CPS, managed as a single unified device.
    • Simplified migration from non-aVCS configurations.  
    • Offers over eight times the performance and greater flexibility than competitors' fixed chassis systems.
  • SoftAX:  AX Series Virtual Appliance is available at various performance levels, up to 4 Gbps, offering the highest performance on the market today by any leading ADC vendor.
    • Runs on VMware vSphere and can be deployed in minutes.
    • Flexibility, with a range of virtual appliances that offer a hardware appliance upgrade path as needed, all with a common configuration.

• Application Networking Solutions
  • Diameter Protocol and Diameter Application (e.g. IMS) Support: Diameter is the next generation AAA protocol of choice for meeting emerging service provider requirements.  Extensions to the Diameter base protocol allow flexibility in use, including reliable authentication and accounting applications compared to traditional RADIUS options.
  • Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft Lync Server 2010 and Microsoft Office Communications Server (OCS) Certified: With the latest AX Series platform release, both 64-bit hardware and virtual appliances are certified.  Having undergone rigorous testing and performance checks, the AX Series can be trusted as compatible for key enterprise applications, delivering high availability, scalability and security.

• Other Notable Enhancements
  • SSL Processing: AX 5200 increases SSL CPS by 40% for 1024-bit keys and 90% for 2048-bit keys based on hardware and/or software enhancements.  Increased processing requirements amid the move from 1024-bit to 2048-bit keys can cause SSL performance on competitors' ADCs to be reduced as much as 600%.  The AX Series can ensure SSL capacity can meet ever increasing requirements (including HTTPS and STARTTLS for secure web and secure email offload).  
  • Solid-state Drive Support Across All Hardware Appliances: All AX Series hardware models now offer SSDs for carrier grade reliability.  With near zero failure rates, faster performance and lower power draw, SSDs are the choice for next generation data center platforms.
  • Other Enhancements: Link Aggregation Control Protocol (LACP) enhancements; Client-SSL template enhancement for Google Chrome; New aFleX commands and Dynamic IPv6 source NAT enhancements.

All AX Series platforms are dual-stack ready, ensuring the maximum flexibility with IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, enabling both native support and the most advanced IPv4/IPv6 translation capabilities. All AX Series features are available without extra licensing fees, including aFleX Layer 7 traffic scripting, aXAPI (RESTful XML management API) and more.

Availability
AX Series enhancements and new models are available this month.

Additional Resources
Diameter White Paper: http://www.a10networks.com/forms/register.WP-Diameter.php

About A10 Networks
A10 Networks was founded in Q4 2004 with a mission to provide innovative networking and security solutions. A10 Networks makes high-performance products that help organizations accelerate, optimize and secure their applications. A10 Networks is headquartered in Silicon Valley with offices in the United States, United Kingdom, France, The Netherlands, Germany, Brazil, Japan, China, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. For more information, visit http://www.a10networks.com

ACOS, aFleX, aXAPI, aVCS, Virtual Chassis, SoftAX, SmartFlow and aFlow are registered trademarks of A10 Networks. All other product and company names herein may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE A10 Networks