KEMP Technologies Launches Virtual Appliance Load Balancer for Managed Services Market

KEMP Technologies, a provider of affordable server load balancer appliances and application delivery controllers, announced the launch of its new virtual-appliance application delivery controller, or “ADC (News - Alert),” called Virtual LoadMaster, or “VLM.”

Virtual LoadMaster eliminates the need to maintain hardware and reduces or eliminates costs associated with power consumption, cooling, rack space constraints and other environmental dependencies of hardware-based appliances, company officials said. 

The new virtual appliance can be quickly configured and deployed. This feature of the appliance accelerates service provisioning and simplifies ongoing management, which aids in further reducing operating expenses and increasing ROI.

Virtual appliance enables enterprises to decouple the software application from the hardware, so they can offer advanced application delivery functionality in a software-only application, which allows them to deliver cost-effective and profitable services, say industry analysts.

According to officials at KEMP Technologies, managed hosting providers, or “MHPs,” and managed service providers, or “MSPs,” implementing the Virtual LoadMaster are able to reduce the risk associated with stranded investment when customers disconnect services and leave the provider with hardware that has not yet been fully depreciated.

The lower-priced software-based solution also gives MHPs an added marketing advantage over the hardware-based ADCs. When deploying the VLM, MHPs can then maintain margins while pricing their high-value services low enough to attract a new base of customer such as small and medium-sized businesses, or “SMBs,” that previously thought the benefit of ADCs were out of reach, company officials said.

The company announced Virtual LoadMaster will be sold under a Service Provider Licensing Agreement, or “SPLA,” starting at $99 per license per month with no startup or setup fees. 

“The VLM offers the same functionality as our hardware appliances, including advanced Layer 7 content switching, health checking, persistence, caching, compression and SSL offloading.” said Kevin Mahon, founder and president of KEMP Technologies, in a statement. 

“As MHPs and MSPs consolidate and virtualize servers in order to reduce hardware and related management costs, the Virtual LoadMaster delivers high value at an incredible price point from which both the provider and its customer can benefit,” Mahon added.

In November, KEMP Technologies announced version 5.0 of its LoadMaster family of server load balancer appliances and application delivery controllers with the addition of link interface bonding, and VLAN trunking.