Caching for enterprises

Introduction
Control web use with content filtering
Return on investment
Replacing an existing cache
Centralised CACHEBOX management
The CACHEBOX range

Introduction
Whether conducting research, communicating with customers or collaborating with colleagues, Internet access has become a vital resource for business.  The growth of rich intranet applications and the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies in the corporate environment will inevitably create an unbearable burden on existing internet connectivity.

Even with optimistic forecasts concerning improvements in server hardware, router hardware and bandwidth it is unrealistic to think the problem will simply disappear any time soon. 

• The cost of bandwidth will never reach zero, even though increased competition, a growing market, and economies of scale reduce end-user costs.
• Because of physical limitations as well as financial constraints, there will always be variations in bandwidth and latencies.
• Firewalls, other proxies for security and privacy, and virtual private networks for telecommuters increase the number of hops through which content must travel and slow Web response times.
• Communication is likely to always be more expensive than computation.

Intelligent resource allocation is necessary, and web caching is an essential part of any such strategy. 

CACHEBOX, the web caching appliance from ApplianSys, helps you optimize network efficiency on a LAN:

• Reduces your internet bandwidth usage by serving content stored on the LAN
• Delivers faster performance on cached content
• Lessens user-perceived delays and increases user-satisfaction for the service you provide
• Lightens the load on origin servers, saving you hardware and support costs
• Reduces the need for additional bandwidth spend
• Helps you adhere to compliance legislation by logging user requests

 

CACHEBOX helps your business avoid spending large amounts of money upgrading core equipment and transit links to cope with ever-demanding content growth.  It is a powerful yet affordable solution designed to help you control bandwidth costs and improve user satisfaction.

 

Control web use with content filtering
By adding Protex content filtering to CACHEBOX you can control employee access to non-work related sites.  This delivers increases in productivity and reduces losses from wasted time.  Furthermore, by restricting access to unacceptable content it helps protect organizations from potential legal action for failing to protect employees.

Productivity cost calculator
Working weeks in a year		48	weeks
Employee overhead per hour	£	10
Private surfing per user per day		30	minutes
No. of employees		20
Lost productivity (p.a.)	£	24,000

 

 

Return on investment
Investment in CACHEBOX offers a compelling return on investment, based on the potential for:

Direct cost savings

• Reduced initial set-up time
• Reduced ongoing administration time

Bandwidth savings
Calculating bandwidth savings is relatively simple.  Multiply the cost of a monthly internet connection with the byte hit rate expected at peak load. For example, in a corporate environment where users are accessing a company intranet, supplier websites and some private browsing it can average around 30%.

 

Bandwidth cost calculator
Monthly cost of connection	£1,000
Peak hit reate	30%
Savings in bandwidth cost	£300
Annual Savings	£3,600

Based on the above cost savings, the typical payback on a CACHEBOX appliance can be as little as 5-6 months.

However, there are many intangible benefits which can’t be measured as easily but can be just as important.  With objects cached locally, content download speeds are drastically increased, resulting in enhanced employee productivity and service satisfaction.

 

Replacing an existing cache

In the mid-90s many ISPs and large data-intensive organizations bought high end devices from cache vendors to help them manage bandwidth.  However, a number of those vendors have since gone out of business, shifted their focus to offer complex security solutions or sold the caching element of their business.  This has left many of their former customers few options for replacing a vital element of their network.

CACHEBOX, with its feature-rich web caching, offers businesses a sensible replacement solution that delivers comparable performance but at a price that it easy to justify. 

 

Centralised CACHEBOX management

To enable you to roll out and manage a fleet of CACHEBOX appliances in branch offices, ApplianSys has created the CACHEBOX Central Management Console (CMC).  Running in the core network it allows you to configure, monitor, update, backup and recover multiple devices.  The CMC allows for monitoring and simultaneous batched administration of multiple units, drastically reducing the time it takes you to roll out changes.