Array Networks announces APV version 8.6, a new software release for Array's APV Series Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs). The enhanced software boosts performance for physical and virtual environments, introduces a host of new performance and availability features and includes a revamped, cloud-friendly WebUI and RESTful API that streamline management and simplify integration with cloud and virtualization management platforms.
Application delivery deployed on hypervisors in virtual environments continues to be a customer priority as an affordable alternative to high cost, skilled-labor requirements and challenges associated with buying, installing and maintaining hardware in-house. However, due to hypervisor performance penalties and general-purpose servers, performance of virtual ADCs can suffer significantly. Performance tuning for virtual environments was at the forefront of APV version 8.6, with new versions of Array's vAPV virtual ADC experiencing a 10x L4 throughput improvement when deployed on Microsoft Hyper-V and nearly 20% L7 throughput improvement when running on the VMware ESXi hypervisor.
In addition, with newly added support for elliptical curve cryptography (ECC) - the next generation of public-key cryptography - APV version 8.6 provides improved security while requiring significantly less computational power, resulting in faster processing.
Additional APV version 8.6 enhancements include support for HTTP/2 and backward compatibility with HTTP/1.1, allowing APV Series appliances to act as a gateway between servers and clients to gain the performance benefits of HTTP/2 without a major investment in Web infrastructure and applications. Also new in APV version 8.6 is support for server name indication (SNI), which allows APV appliances to respond to front-end servers in multitenant and large Web hosting environments and manage SSL certificates for domains that share a single IP address, streamlining certificate management.
"The future of application delivery solutions continues to move toward a virtual approach that allows enterprises and service providers to gain more flexibility; however, maintaining performance in virtual environments remains a challenge," said Paul Andersen, Director of Marketing at Array Networks. "The new APV version 8.6 enhancements are bridging this gap, and reinforce Array's commitment to giving customers the agility and management efficiency of virtual appliances without sacrificing performance, availability or security."
Finally, APV version 8.6 brings state-of-the-art management and integration capabilities to Array's load balancing and application delivery solutions. A new cloud-friendly Web User Interface (WebUI) gives an improved user experience for a more user-friendly, 360º view of network performance. The new interface provides a clear presentation of product function architecture, a dashboard for system configurations and status, and graphic monitoring systems for load balancing status. For infrastructure-as-a-service providers and enterprises deploying Array vAPV virtual ADCs in cloud and virtualized environments, APV version 8.6 supports a RESTful API management interface that integrates with SDN/SDDC cloud management systems and enables vAPV appliances to be included in automation schemas that streamline network operations.