acceleration for SSL makes sense since PKI can slow down a transaction by as much as 1,000-fold. Per this article, XML formatting only increases doc size by about 20-fold.. I'm not sure there are enough "powers of ten" in there to justify hardware acceleration. Expect the next major release from DataPower to be the revolutionary new "email chip" - allows you to offload the sending and receiving of email messages onto dedicated hardware while you get on w/ more important things .. like listening to MP3s..Best, Paul Sholtz-----Original Message----- From: Rohit Khare To: fork@spamassassin.taint.org Sent: 8/27/02 3:00 PM Subject: DataPower announces XML-in-siliconNo analysis yet... don't know what to make of it yet. But here's the rawbits for all to peruse and check out what's really going on... Best, Rohit===========================================================DataPower delivers XML acceleration device ByÂ Scott Tyler Shafer August 27, 2002 5:46 am PTDATAPOWER TECHNOLOGY ON Monday unveiled its network device designed specifically to process XML data. Unlike competing solutions that process XML data in software, DataPower's device processes the data in hardware -- a technology achievement that provides greater performance, according to company officials.The new device, dubbed DataPower XA35 XML Accelerator, is the first in afamily of products expected from the Cambridge, Mass.-based startup. TheDataPower family is based on a proprietary processing core technology called XG3 that does the analysis, parsing, and processing of the XML data.According to Steve Kelly, CEO of DataPower, the XA35 Accelerator was conceived to meet the steady adoption of XML, the anticipated future proliferation of Web services, and as a means to share data between two businesses."Our vision is to build out an XML-aware infrastructure," Kelly said. "The XA35 is the first of a family."Kelly explained that converting data into XML increases the file size upto 20 times. This, he said, makes processing the data very taxing on application servers; DataPower believes an inline device is the best alternative.In addition to the large file sizes, security is also of paramount importance in the world of XML."Today's firewalls are designed to inspect HTTP traffic only," Kelly said. "A SOAP packet with XML will go straight through a firewall. Firewalls are blind to XML today."Future products in DataPowers family will focus more specifically on security, especially as Web services proliferate, Kelly said.According to DataPower, most existing solutions to offload XML processing are homegrown and done in software -- an approach the companyitself tried initially and found to be inadequate with regards to speed and security. After trying the software path, the company turned to creating a solution that would process XML in hardware."Our XG3 execution core converts XML to machine code," said Kelly, adding that to his knowledge no other company's solution does. Kelly said in the next few months he expects the market to be flooded with technologies that claim to do XML processing -- claims that he believes will be mostly false. Other content-aware switches, such as SSL (secure socket layer) accelerators and load balancers, look at the first 64 bytes of a packet,while the XA35 provides deeper packet inspection, looking at 1,400 bytesand thus enabling greater processing of XML data, Kelly explained.The 1U-high network device has been tested against a large collection ofXML and XSL data types and can learn new flavors of the markup language as they pass through the device.The XA35 can be deployed in proxy mode behind a firewall and a load balancer, and it will inspect all traffic that passes and will identify and process those packets that are XML, Kelly said.In addition to proxy mode, the device can also be used as an applicationco-processor. This deployment method gives administrators more granular control over what data is inspected and the application server itself controls the device.DataPower is not the only company chasing this emerging market. Startup Sarvega, based in Burr Ridge, Ill., introduced the Sarvega XPE switch inMay, and earlier this month Tarari, an Intel spin-off, launched with a focus on content processing and acceleration. The DataPower device is now available, priced starting at $54,995. The company has announced one customer to date and says the product is in field trails at a number of other enterprises.======================================================================== =DataPower has been addressing enterprise networking needs since it was founded in early 1999 by Eugene Kuznetsov, a technology visionary who foresaw the adverse effects XML and other next generation protocols would have on enterprise networks. Long before industry interest in XML grew, Kuznetsov assembled a team of world-class M.I.T. engineers and designed the industry's first solutions to address the unique requirements for processing XML. The first such solution was a software interpreter called DGXT. This software-based approach to XML processing is still licensed by many companies for use in their own products today.Leveraging the detailed knowledge and customer experience gained from developing software-based accelerators, Kuznetsov's team raised the bar and designed a system for processing XML in purpose-built hardware. In 2001, DataPower's effort produced XML Generation Three (XG3â„¢), the industry's fastest technology for XML processing, bar none.Today, XG3â„¢ technology powers the industry's first wire-speed XML network devices, enabling secure, high-speed applications and XML Web Services. While other companies are just now marketing first versions ofproducts, DataPower is delivering its third generation of technology, providing an immediate return on technology investments to industry-leading customers and partners.DataPower's M.I.T. heritage is complemented by a management team that brings decades of experience in the networking and computing industries,drawing veteran leaders from several successful companies including Akamai, Argon, Cascade, Castle Networks, Sycamore and Wellfleet.======================================================================== =DataPower Technology Secures $9.5 Million in FundingVenrock Associates, Mobius Venture Capital and Seed Capital Back Pioneerin XML-Aware Networking for Web ServicesCAMBRIDGE, Mass. - July 8, 2002 - DataPower Technology, Inc., the leading provider of XML-Aware network infrastructure, today announced that it has secured $9.5 million in series B financing. Investors for this round include Venrock Associates, Mobius Venture Capital and Seed Capital Partners. Michael Tyrrell, of Venrock, Bill Burnham, of Mobius, and Jeff Fagnan, of Seed Capital, have joined DataPowerâ€™s Board of Directors.DataPower will use this funding to accelerate development, marketing andsales of the companyâ€™s breakthrough technology for XML-Aware networking.Founded in 1999, DataPower invented the worldâ€™s first intelligent XML networkingÂ devices, capable of transforming XML traffic and transactionsat the wire-speed enterprises need to effectively embrace Web services and other XML-centric initiatives. DataPowerâ€™s solutions are based on its patent-pending XML Generation Three (XG3â„¢) technology."Enterprises are adopting XML at rapid rate to facilitate inter-and intra-company communications but their network infrastructure is ill prepared to support the requirements of this new traffic type. DataPowerâ€™s XML-acceleration devices enable the wirespeed processing of XML that is required to support next generation enterprise applications," said Eugene Kuznetsov, CTO and founder of DataPower Technology."DataPower gives companies the ability to use XML thatâ€™s critical to Webservices projects without sacrificing an ounce of performance." A singleDataPower acceleration engine delivers the processing power of 10 serversâ€”breaking the performance bottleneck associated with XML processing and delivering an extraordinary return on investment. In addition, the DataPower platform provides enhanced XML security, protection against XML-based denial-of-service attacks, connection of e-business protocols for incompatible XML data streams, load balancing between back-end servers and real-time statistics reports."In the post-bubble economy, technology investment decisions require laser-focused scrutiny. DataPowerâ€™s patent-pending technology addresses a very real and growing pain point for enterprises," said Michael Tyrrell of Venrock Associates. "By turbo-charging their networks with DataPowerâ€™s unique XML-Aware networking technology, companies will be free to adopt next generation Web services without encountering performance and security pitfalls.""We looked long and hard for a company capable of addressing the rapidlygrowing problems surrounding XML message processing performance and security," said Bill Burnham of Mobius Venture Capital. "DataPower is ontheir third generation of technology. Their patent pending XML Generation Three (XG3)Â technology was quite simply the single most compelling technology solution we have seen to date.""XML is not a nice-to-have, it is a must have for enterprises serious about optimizing application efficiency. Since 1999, DataPower has been developing solutions to facilitate enterprise use of XML and Web services," said Jeff Fagnan of Seed Capital Partners. "DataPowerâ€™s XML-acceleration devices are a key requirement for enterprises that relyon XML for mission critical applications."About Venrock Associates Venrock Associates was founded as the venture capital arm of the Rockefeller Family and continues a tradition of funding entrepreneurs that now spans over seven decades. Laurance S. Rockefeller pioneered early stage venture financing in the 1930s. With over 300 investments over a span of more than 70 years, the firm has an established a track record of identifying and supporting promising early stage, technology- based enterprises. As one of most experienced venture firms in the United States, Venrock maintains a tradition of collaboration with talented entrepreneurs to establish successful, enduring companies. Venrock's continuing goal is to create long-term value by assisting entrepreneurs in building companies from the formative stages. Their consistent focus on Information Technology and Life Sciences-related opportunities provides a reservoir of knowledge and a network of contacts that have proven to be a catalyst for the growth of developing organizations. Venrock's investments have included CheckPoint Software, USinternetworking, Caliper Technologies, Illumina, Niku, DoubleClick, Media Metrix, 3COM, Intel, and Apple Computer. With offices in New York City, Cambridge, MA, and Menlo Park, CA, Venrock is well positioned to respond to opportunities in any locale. For more information on Venrock Associates, please visit www.venrock.comAbout Mobius Venture Capital Mobius Venture Capital, formerly SOFTBANK Venture Capital, is a $2.5 billion U.S.-based private equity venture capital firm managed by an unparalleled team of former CEOs and entrepreneurs, technology pioneers,senior executives from major technology corporations, and leaders from the investment banking community. Mobius Venture Capital specializes primarily in early-stage investments in the areas of: communications systems software and services; infrastructure software and services; professional services; enterprise applications; healthcare informatics; consumer and small business applications; components; and emerging technologies. Mobius Venture Capital combines its technology expertise and broad financial assets with the industry's best entrepreneurs to create a powerhouse portfolio of over 100 of the world's leading high technology companies. Mobius Venture Capital can be contacted by visiting their web site www.mobiusvc.com.About Seed Capital Partners Seed Capital Partners is an early-stage venture fund affiliated with SoftBank Corporation, one of the world's leading Internet market forces.Seed Capital manages funds focused primarily on companies addressing Internet-enabled business-to-business digital information technology opportunities, which are located in the Northeastern U.S., the southeastern region of the Province of Ontario, Canada, and Israel. SeedCapitalâ€™s portfolio includes Spearhead Technologies, Concentric Visions and CompanyDNA. For more information on Seed Capital Partners, please visit www.seedcp.com.About DataPower Technology DataPower Technology provides enterprises with intelligent XML-Aware network infrastructure to ensure unparalleled performance, security and manageability of next-generation protocols. DataPowerâ€™s patent-pending XML Generation Three (XG3â„¢) technology powers the industryâ€™s first wirespeed XML network devices, enabling secure, high-speed applications and XML Web Services. Founded in 1999, DataPower is now delivering its third generation of technology, providing immediate return on technologyinvestments to industry-leading customers and partners. DataPower is privately held and based in Cambridge, MA. Investors include Mobius Venture Capital, Seed Capital Partners, and Venrock Associates.CONTACT:DataPower Technology, Inc. Kieran Taylor 617-864-0455 kieran@datapower.comSchwartz Communications John Moran/Heather Chichakly 781-684-0770 datapower@schwartz-pr.com========================================================================Steve Kelly, chairman and CEODuring over twenty years in the technology industry, Steve Kelly has built and managed global enterprise networks, provided consulting services to Fortune 50 businesses, and been involved in the launch of several start-ups. Prior to DataPower, Kelly was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Venrock Associates, and was co-founder of Castle Networks, where he led the company's sales, service and marketingfunctions. Castle was acquired by Siemens AG in 1999 to create UnisphereNetworks, which was subsequently purchased by Juniper Networks. Kelly was an early contributor at Cascade Communications, where he built and managed the company's core switching business; Cascade's annual revenuesgrew from $2 million to $300 million annually during Kelly's tenure. Kelly also worked at Digital Equipment Corporation where he managed and grew their corporate network to 50,000+ nodes in 28 countries, the largest in the world at the time. Kelly has a B.S. in Information Systems from Bentley College.Eugene Kuznetsov, founder, president and CTOEugene Kuznetsov is a technology visionary that has been working to address enterprise XML issues since the late 90s. Kuznetsov founded DataPower Technology, Inc. in 1999 to provide enterprises with an intelligent, XML-aware network infrastructure to support next-generationapplications. Prior to starting DataPower, Kuznetsov led the Java JIT Compiler effort for Microsoft Internet Explorer for Macintosh 4.0. He was also part of the team which developed one of the first clean room Java VM's. This high-speed runtime technology was licensed by some of the industry's largest technology companies, including Apple Computer. He has consulted to numerous companies and worked on a variety of hardware and software engineering problems in the areas of memory management, power electronics, optimized execution engines and application integration. Kuznetsov holds a B.S. in electrical engineering from MIT.Steve Willis, vice president of advanced technologySteve Willis is an accomplished entrepreneur and a pioneer in protocol optimization. Prior to joining DataPower, Willis was co-founder and CTO of Argon Networks, a provider of high-performance switching routers thatwas acquired by Siemens AG in 1999 to create Unisphere Networks; Unisphere was subsequently purchased by Juniper Networks. Before Argon, Steve was vice president of advanced technology at Bay Networks (now Nortel Networks) where he led both IP and ATM-related technology development and managed a group that generated 24 patent applications, developed a 1 Mbps forwarding engine and led the specification of the ATM Forum's PNNI routing protocol. Most notably, Steve was co-founder, original software director and architect for Wellfleet Communications, aleading pioneer of multi-protocol routers. Wellfleet was rated as the fastest growing company in the U.S. for two consecutive years by Fortunemagazine. Willis is currently a member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) Routing Research Group. Willis has a B.D.I.C. in Computer Sciencefrom the University of Massachusetts.Bill Tao, vice president of engineeringWith a vast understanding of network optimization technologies and extensive experience in LAN and WAN networking, Bill Tao brings over 25 years of critical knowledge to lead DataPower's engineering efforts. Prior to DataPower, Tao was the vice president of engineering for Sycamore Networks, developing a family of metro/regional optical networkswitches. He is also well acquainted with network optimization techniques as he was previously vice president of engineering at InfoLibria, where he led development and software quality assurance engineering for a family of network caching products. Tao has held senior engineering positions at NetEdge, Proteon, Codex and Wang. Tao received a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from the University of Connecticut and an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of Illinois.Kieran Taylor, director of product marketingKieran Taylor has an accomplished record as a marketing professional, industry analyst and journalist. Prior to joining DataPower, Taylor was the director of product management and marketing for Akamai Technologies(NASDAQ: AKAM). As an early contributor at Akamai, he helped develop thecompany's initial positioning and led the technical development and go-to-market activities for Akamai's flagship EdgeSuite service. Taylor's early contribution helped position the service provider to secure a $12.6 billion IPO. He has also held senior marketing managementpositions at Nortel Networks, Inc. and Bay Networks. Taylor was previously an analyst at TeleChoice, Inc. and the Wide Area Networks editor for Data Communications, a McGraw Hill publication. Taylor holds a B.A. in Print Journalism from the Pennsylvania State University Schoolof Communications.================================================================= Board of AdvisorsMark Hoover Mark Hoover is President and co-founder of Acuitive, Inc., a start-up accelerator. With over 20 years experience in the networking industry, Hoover's expertise spans product development, marketing, and business development. Before launching Acuitive, Hoover worked at AT&T Bell Laboratories, AT&T Computer Systems, SynOptics, and Bay Networks, where he played a role in the development of key technologies, such as 10-BASET, routing, FDDI, ATM, Ethernet switching, firewall, Internet traffic management, and edge WAN switch industries.George Kassabgi Currently Vice President of Engineering at BEA Systems, Mr. Kassabgi hasheld executive-level positions in engineering, sales and marketing, and has spearheaded leading-edge developments in the application server marketplace since 1996. He is widely known for his regular speaking engagements at JavaOne, as well as columns and contributions in JavaPro,Java Developer's Journal and other publications. In addition to being a venerated Java expert, George Kassabgi holds a patent on SmartObject Technology, and authored the technical book Progress V8.Marshall T. Rose Marshall T. Rose runs his own firm, Dover Beach Consulting, Inc. He formerly held the position of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)Area Director for Network Management, one of a dozen individuals who oversaw the Internet's standardization process. Rose is the author of several professional texts on subjects such as Internet Management, Electronic Mail, and Directory Services, which have been published in four languages. He is well known for his implementations of core Internet technologies (such as POP, SMTP, and SNMP) and OSI technologies(such as X.500 and FTAM). Rose received a PhD in Information and Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine, in 1984.