When it comes to server load balancing solutions, companies have steadily migrated from a hardware to a software—in either a virtualized or cloud-based—infrastructure. It’s less expensive, more scalable, and easier to maintain. It also provides companies with a more flexible development environment.

Features and functions are meaningless if applications do not perform properly. For companies that rely heavily on hardware-based legacy Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs) or load balancers, performance can be a serious problem.

Reasons to Make the Switch to Software

Discover why software-based approach to load balancing surpasses other options. We have listed a few reasons to consider the conversion.

· Allows for Swift Deployment and Flexibility

Utilizing software provides much more flexibility when it comes to sizing and scaling for each application’s needs. Software ADCs can be adjusted on demand when requirements change. This means developers have the freedom to deploy the right ADC for any application, quickly and easily.

· Offers More Power and Better Performance

Hardware can place limitations on load balancing performance. Hardware configuration, licensing, and expenses can all create barriers to successful implementation of your load balancing architecture. However, software will literally run as fast as you let it, whenever you want, and in any physical, virtual or cloud environment. Freedom from the limitations of hardware means you can scale your infrastructure vertically or horizontally on demand. This means every ADC is properly sized for the application it serves.

· Runs in Any Environment

Many companies are moving to the cloud or virtual platforms—to be able to serve content quickly to users on the go. A hardware load balancing solution can clog performance by tying your applications to specific physical locations, creating literal traffic jams in the data. In contrast, load balancing software can run in any environment—whether on-premise, cloud-based, or hybrid, offering a highly flexible and portable solution.

· Lets Your Application Team Focus on Apps Again

The reality is, applications that cannot deliver exceptional performance will be quickly cast aside by users. Hardware load balancing solutions make little sense in an app-focused world, where not all applications, or user devices, are created equally. To achieve peak performance for every app, developers need the freedom to make specific changes in configuration on the load balancer without having to constantly rely on the infrastructure team.

· Presents a DevOps-Friendly Solution

Application development has evolved. In the past, the software development team who built an application would hand it off to an IT operations team to deploy. The new practice of DevOps is one where the same team controls the entire process from start to finish, and it has evolved as a result of cloud and virtualized environments and customer demands for faster service.

Software-based load balancing gives control back to developers, which has significant implications for DevOps as a whole. Not only can applications be delivered with greater performance, they can also be developed to perform better from the very start.

Superior Load Balancing Solutions

Resonate Networks is here to help your business. We provide advanced load balancing solutions for a more reliable and higher-performing server infrastructure. Contact us for any questions concerning the differences between hardware and software load balancing options. We are here to help.