Technology providers
Learn how a tailored ADC can change your business model for the better
Technology Providers — take your solutions to the next level with tailored load balancing
As a technology and/or software provider you’ve created an outstanding, market-leading product. But in today’s competitive business environment that’s not enough, your clients expect your technology to be always available, easily scalable and fully resilient to external threats.
That’s where load balancing or application delivery controllers come in, a modern ADC solution can ensure that your product is highly available, can be quickly scaled and is secure against threats such as DDoS attacks. Great — job done.
But wait how do you go to market?
We typically see a number of common scenarios…
It’s not my problem!
Surprisingly, we still see technology providers who just leave it up to their clients to decide whether to install a load balancer and which brand/specification to choose. Needless to say, we believe this is a very caviller approach to take. The performance of your product is taken out of your hands – and should the worst happen your clients will almost certainly still lay the blame for poor product performance at your feet.
Supply a high-end ADC with your product
Seems like a sensible option, you understand the enhanced benefits a load balancer can bring to your offering and a top-end ADC can definitely handle the workload. So what is the problem? Well in our experience there are a few.
Firstly cost; a high-end solution, like an F5 can be a pretty big investment, even for a virtual edition and that’s before you factor in support, PS and consultancy. If you are providing this in your package and your competitors aren’t it may make you uncompetitive.
Secondly; complexity, yes a high-end appliance can almost certainly handle the tasks asked of it and a lot more besides but… Our experience is that high-end ADCs can become a real burden for end-user support staff.
Thirdly, ongoing security and bug updates, unfortunately the shear magnitude of what a high-end ADC can do creates multiple attack vectors for cybercriminals. We have clients who have been trapped in a never-ending cycle of constant updates, i.e. no sooner has their estate of appliances been laboriously taken offline and carefully updated with new patches than the whole process needs to start again due to a new alert.
Fourthly, well you get the point…
Specify/recommend a high-end ADC
As well as the issues raised above (“Supply a high-end ADC with your product”), i.e. you are asking your clients to buy an expensive appliance, highly complexity, an ongoing cycle of security updates, etc. An additional issue we commonly see in this scenario is that end-users feel the need to utilize their very expensive ADC appliance to carry-out duties beyond your specific application. In theory this makes a lot of sense, likely the appliance is capable of more bandwidth than just the dedicated application/s is was purchased for, so it seems like sound business practice.
Unfortunately, in the real-world we often see a tangled web of problems resulting from this approach. For example, for one client, a problem caused by a non-critical (in-house written) app taking down a load balancer put in place to support a highly mission critical clinical workflow application. Our recommendation is always to try and ring-fence key applications and use a per-app approach whenever possible.
The DIY integrated load balancer
Again, an entirely understandable approach, why not develop your own solution customized to your product’s specific needs. We have come across clients who have developed a solution entirely in-house and others who have ‘piggy-backed’ on a great open-source software like HAProxy. Either way, we see similar issues, firstly (and this is a common occurrence) the internal team who pull together the initial DIY solution gets disbanded or otherwise redeployed, leaving others to try and keep the solution operational even though they don’t really understand it. A second scenario is that keeping the DIY solution operational and secure (against the ever increasing number of cyberthreats) becomes a real burden, distracting the application team from the core product.
There is another way
“Tailored load balancing”
Tailored load balancing is now gaining traction as software architects, product managers, and business leaders all realize this disruptive approach is a better way.
A better way to keep your applications running, a better way to keep things simple with a tailored GUI, a better way to support your client’s needs and a better way to allow you to focus on your core product offering.
“Some of our clients have described this new approach as like having their very own HA division”
Ready to experience tailored load balancing?
Why not start a conversation with us and find out how a tailored ADC can boost your business’s performance
So what is tailored load balancing and how can it help?
As the name suggests, the ADC appliance is tailored and adapted to meet your exact needs as a technology provider and those of your user base. Using our fully-featured enterprise-grade ADC appliance as the core we selectively prune the superfluous features and services, while conversely, enhancing and adding functionality if required.
The resultant load balancer is fully optimized for your application and environment, powerful enough to meet your current and future needs while streamlined enough to not become a burden for your engineers or your clients.
Tailoring is not only limited to the appliance, commercial agreements can be flexed as well. From basic bulk discount and rebate deals, to more complex subscription and rental agreements, whatever your needs, we are confident that we can tailor a financial agreement to suit you.
Similarly, support can be tailored to meet your specific needs. Some of our partners require us to provide first and subsequent level support for all ADC related end-user queries. Other clients prefer to engage as first line support and escalate to us as required. And some prefer to handle all support themselves – in which case we have developed tailored training programs to allow their teams to excel in supporting “their ADC”.
Ready to experience tailored load balancing?
How to start the journey
Many of our clients don’t necessarily want to jump straight into bed with us, and that’s fine. We have established a simple multi-level process, where technology providers can choose the best entry point for their own specific needs. We are focused on one thing: helping your end-users make the most of your technology. If you’re not ready for a full integration, we can be involved in any part of your journey
We research, test and validate our solution for the application. We also provide bespoke documentation to assist with deployment.
Combining our product with the technology delivers enhanced value for the end-user. You can recommend our solution and we will work with the end-user for faster deployment.
We liaise with resellers, provide the commercial incentives as well as education and training about our products and how it integrates seamlessly with your technology.
We develop tailored load balancers that integrate tightly with your technology so they become one solution for the end-user.
Why use our OEM solutions?
Because it’s what we do!
Our core business model is built around providing tailored partner solutions. And for many of our clients that partnership journey culminates in an OEM solution. So what can you expect from a tailored OEM partnership? The beauty of our approach is that we can flex to meet your specific needs.
That said, here are some examples of what you should expect..
Seamless integration
Whether it is branding of the product (hardware and/or software), tailoring of the user interface or a deeper technology integration, we can meet your needs.
A tailored solution
It almost goes without saying but the basis of our partner approach is to create a load balancing/ADC solution that is tailored to your specific needs – technologically, commercially and from an after-market stand-point.
Easy to deploy, simple to maintain
Our company mantra is “Clever, not Complex”. Our standard Enterprise ADC, while being powerful and capable is still focused on being easy to use. But as a OEM client you can expect that experience to be even more streamlined both for your engineers & support staff and your clients.
Maximize resiliency
A tailored ADC is streamlined to meet your exact requirements and nothing more, this inherently reduces the number of attack vectors available to bad actors. We can also create a locked version for you to avoid the unnecessary introduction of new vulnerabilities.
Manage centrally, deploy quickly
Eliminate redundant and unnecessary manual configurations by automating deployment and maintenance with a centralized management platform.
Aligned development roadmaps
A consistent issue raised to us by partners is the need to know what the future holds. You’ve got a good ADC solution and then it goes EOL, or a key feature is discontinued. We all know that in today’s world the only constant is change, so wouldn’t it be great if the only changes in your ADC are the ones you ask for.
Ready to experience tailored load balancing?
Why not start a conversion with us and find out how a tailored ADC can boost your business’s performance
Delivering tailored experiences across all industries
Organizations across all sectors are empowering their end-users with awesome technologies. When using Loadbalancer.org as their HA division, they are able to focus on delivering the world-class solutions their customers demand, free in the knowledge that their products are highly available, secure and ready to scale to their customers needs.
