Citrix Systems detailed on Tuesday what it claims to be the first Web 2.0-era push technology.
The aptly named NetScaler Web 2.0 Push, the company explained, is a feature integrated into the NetScaler lineup that serves as an "application delivery controller" capable of pushing data out to many users simultaneously, thereby boosting the performance of rich interactive applications that otherwise demand a one-to-one connection between user and server.
The result: NetScaler Web 2.0 Push helps companies reduce expenses associated with that burden on servers and infrastructure, Citrix added, making the bold statement that using the feature can cut such costs by five to ten times. Specific magnitudes are hard to gauge, of course.
Cindy Borovick, IDC director of datacenter networks research, said that while customers might not be able to actually reduce the number of servers required to deliver Web 2.0 applications, they can achieve savings just by slowing down the process of acquiring new servers and that, in turn, cuts other associated costs, such as power, management, and cabling.
Borovick added that Web 2.0 and cloud-centric companies will find NetScaler Web 2.0 Push useful, but so will enterprises with a large presence, such as financial institutions, because Citrix is the only company offering this capability today.
"Any company concerned about the user experience on the Web might find it useful because that is critical to continued relevance and continued revenue," Borovick explained.
Citrix said that existing customers can upgrade to the Web 2.0 Push technology free; for others the new capability is now available in NetScaler Enterprise and Platinum editions.