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Ranch Networks Bows Asterisk Clustering for Larger Enterprises

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September 12, 2006

Ranch Networks Bows Asterisk Clustering for Larger Enterprises

By Robert Liu, TMCnet Executive Editor


Back in May, when Ranch Networks (News - Alert) added its 1+1 High Availability feature to its RN line of networking appliances, customers welcomed the ability to build redundancy into the Asterisk open source PBX with open arms. But as is often the case, some customers wanted more. Larger customers for instance weren’t satisfied with just a passive Asterisk server to back up their main switching box.
 
To address usability concerns specifically of those larger enterprises and governments clients, Ranch Networks on Tuesday announced the introduction of clustering capabilities to its high-end line of Asterisk-certified appliances. The new feature adds the ability to group multiple Asterisk servers into what company officials poetically refer to as “an Asterisk server farm” – reminiscent of the early build-out of the Internet when Web server farms sprouted up like dandelions.
 
“From the outside, it gives the user the appearance of one single IP address and one single MAC,” explained Ram Ayyakad, CEO and co-founder of Ranch Networks.
 
But, unlike the 1+1 High Availability feature, the clustering capability doesn’t just automatically redirect calls when server failure is detected. Instead, the RN application enables two or more servers to operate at full uptime in complete parallel synchronization, greatly increasing the scalability and call volume.
 
“The issue of handling more calls is related to applications in a situation like a call center,” Ayyakad told TMCnet during a recent telephone briefing. “We do seamless load-balancing amongst a series of asterisk servers.”
 
The company is offering the clustering capability in two configurations: (1) the entire cluster can behave as one Asterisk server; (2) various machines can be configured to handle specific tasks such as proxy and registrations or media and signaling.
 
The performance gains yielded by the clustering capability also makes it well-suited for other CPU-intensive applications like call recording, which requires the full duplication of packets. Ranch Networks hasn’t yet done any performance benchmarking to quantify the efficiency of Asterisk clustering but that could be coming soon.
 
“The biggest advantage of this clustering is there is no geographic limitation to the cluster,” Ayyakad said.
 
Because the feature set is designed for larger customers as opposed to the small- to medium-sized business (SMB) market, clustering is only offered on the RN40 and RN41 models, not the RN20 or entry-level RN300. Pricing hasn’t yet been determined.
 
Among the larger customers that could be targeted include the company’s home state of New Jersey. Last month, Ranch Network scored $1 million in funding from the New Jersey Economic Development Authority’s (NJEDA’s) Techniuum Initiative.
 
Ayyakad said he considers the recognition by the state of New Jersey to be more significant than the amount or size of the funding itself. The deal opens the doors for Ranch Networks to begin working with the various state agencies on future VoIP deployments.
 
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Robert Liu is Executive Editor at TMCnet. Previously, he was Executive Editor at Jupitermedia and has also written for CNN, A&E, Dow Jones and Bloomberg. For more articles, please visit Robert Liu's columnist page.







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