Citrix
Request Switching Technology
Citrix’s patented Request Switching™ technology is the
foundation for a new breed of Web application infrastructure explicitly
designed to ensure the cost-effective, continuous, secure delivery
of web applications.
Based on pioneering research in network optimization, Request
Switching technology handles Web application traffic in the most
efficient way possible—by analyzing, securing and directing
incoming traffic at the application request level—enabling
fine-grain traffic direction, protection and control. With this
technology, Citrix NetScaler application delivery products break
the dependency between application requests and the transport layer
to optimally fulfill every end-user’s request.
This unique ability to handle individual application requests
and responses enables application-level protection and infrastructure
optimization not afforded by other technologies or solutions.
- Enables continuous application availability in the presence
of traffic surges and malicious attacks
- Boosts server capacity, decreases bandwidth consumption and
reduces complexity to significantly lower the total cost of operations
- Provides wire-speed capacity to fully secure the delivery of
Web applications
As a result, Request Switching technology allows Citrix NetScaler customers to
secure 100% of their application content, continuously serve users, and reduce
total cost of operations, all without diminishing their end-user experience.
How Does Request Switching Work?
Request Switching dramatically improves the throughput and scalability of Internet
application infrastructure by decoupling each application request/response
flow from the underlying transport – ensuring the most efficient use
of transport protocols and resources, even in a scenario where all of the
content is encrypted or compressed. By managing the complete lifecycle of
the request/response transaction, Citrix NetScaler application delivery products
are uniquely equipped to direct and control application requests most efficiently,
from the customer to the server and back again.
Request Switching includes the following traffic management
techniques
- Offloads transport processing from servers and caches
- Analyzes and optimizes every server response
- Provides adaptive regulation of request flow without transaction loss
- Keeps client TCP connections alive to speed response times
- Multiplexes and de-multiplexes application level requests to maximize server
efficiency
Through its high-performance processing techniques, Request Switching technology
optimizes the use of standard Internet protocols by multiplexing requests from
millions of users to a few servers via persistent connections between clients
and servers. Despite competitor claims, no competing technology can fully exploit
HTTP 1.1 persistent connections like Citrix NetScaler systems can. Request Switching
technology adjusts the parameters associated with transport protocols, allowing
the servers to quickly adapt to the capacity of the network. This results in
data being transmitted at a higher rate, improving the user response time. And
by offloading the TCP processing onto the Citrix NetScaler system, server-side
resources are carefully optimized to achieve high throughput, low latency and
high availability.
Citrix has built this revolutionary technology into its Citrix NetScaler
products at the deepest levels of processing, providing enterprises, e-businesses
and service providers with unparalleled Web application protection, unprecedented
performance and secure delivery—all at wire speed—in one complete
solution.
