Load Balancer

The growing demand for the capture, storage and management of data is changing the look and feel of today’s data center. Moving away from hardware-intensive toward software-based data centers and the computing, storage and components demands change.

Users are demanding agility and power consumption and sustainability are hot topics. To effectively manage this evolution to meet demand and stay within required boundaries, a number of IT decision makers are looking at the value of the load balancer.

Referred to as the software-defined networking (SDN) movement, data center evolution is creating excitement and opportunity for vendors in this space. And, according to this CRN report, Embrane executives are excited, yet purposeful in their approach. CEO Dante Malagrino told CRN that while SDNs tend to focus on Layer 2 and Layer 3 capabilities, Embrane is excited about the much bigger picture.

To that end, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company launched Heleos at the end of 2011. This distributed software platform powers the load balancer, virtual private network, firewall and even WAN optimization. The solution will take the programmable networking discussion and transfer it into Layer 4-7 networking where enterprise users and cloud providers can use it to deliver Infrastructure-as-a-Service functions in the build out of public, private or hybrid cloud environments.

Malagrino says this process is tied directly to the delivery of apps. He anticipates that the data center will continue to evolve toward software-based architectures and scaled-out systems where the load balancer, virtualization and other elements are readily accessible in the top layers. Plus, one of the perks of Heleos is that is co-exists with current deployments and augments existing network appliances so companies do not have to rip and replace current investments.

The Elastic Services Manager, a management dashboard for virtualized resources, and the distributed virtual appliances, were the first individual Heleos product launches. These first releases address the load balancer and the virtual private network. Running on standard x86 servers, Heleos uses off-the-shelf virtualization technology delivered from the hypervisor vendor.

For Embrane, the customer base is split evenly between the enterprise and the service provider. In the past year, most customers are considering data center optimization and the common belief is that software will ensure the programmability of the infrastructure. This is significant for Embrane as just a few years ago, suggesting the connection between the two often led to confusion. Now, there is a growing need for VARs and integrators to be thought leaders in this space, which can help create new opportunities.

As the needs of the market change, so must the approach of those meeting the needs. For Embrane, the time is right to change the mold and those bringing additional expertise to the table will benefit.

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