Convergent appliances complicate tech buying

Alan Choyna, Sunday, April 2, 2006 @ 4:38 pm

Many new network infrastructure management appliances are coming on the market, including several convergent devices which integrate many components together in one killer app(liance).

An example of this convergence is the new "F5 Big IP series" load balancing appliance that touts not only load balancing of server and application requests, but also firewall packet filtering and layer 7 application security, traditionally the domain of stand alone firewalls such as Checkpoint FW1.

While l see this convergence as a good thing for ease of management (one appliance to manage vs many) and lower rack space and power consumption, it comes at a much higher cost and misses some of the critical components the single focus applications/appliances provide. Either way it makes tech buying a more complex process trying to understand where each new device may fit in your organization.

When purchasing additional network functionality, in addition to standalone appliances tech buyers should evaluate convergent devices which may ultimately be a better fit for them. With the profusion of new appliances out there, understanding where the new offerings fit in your network requires a more knowledgeable and sophisticated buyer and VAR.

l will be writing an article soon discussing specific convergent devices, highlighting which offerings are suitable for which organizations.

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