Two Markets

From LB Wiki

The load balancing market is actually two very separate, very distinct markets, that operating independently of each other.

• Enterprise Market
• Value Market

For the most part, vendors exist in only one market, and the vendors in one market don't compete with vendors in another market. For instance, F5 would likely not consider Barracuda a load balancing competitor, and vice versa.

Enterprise Market

The first market, the Enterprise market, is the one most people are familiar with. Vendors like F5, Cisco, and Citrix (NetScaler) dominate this market. Prices start out at $20,000 on the low-end, and go way up into the high six figures on the high end.

These products tend to be very high end. Most have products that measure maximum throughput in Gigabits per second and have the ability to view and manipulate both HTTP headers as well as HTTP content.

Value Market

The second market, is often lumped in with the first market, really needs to be talked about as a completely different market. Prices start at around $2,000 USD for entry-level, and tend to top out at $20,000 USD on the high-end. Companies like Coyote Point, Barracuda, and KEMP Technologies. There is also a fairly robust market for used enterprise gear sold at value market prices.

Features are a little more basic for value market boxes. They typically have a limited ability to view and manipulate HTTP headers, they usually are not capable of manipulating content.

Difference

It's not just price that separates these two markets. The companies tend to operate substantially different, as well. Enterprise market companies typically have a built-out sales and SE (sales engineer) apparatus, where sales calls can be done in person, especially in major metro areas. POC (proof of concept) test installations are normal, and sales cycles can be 60 days or more.

Value market products are typically sold remotely, without face time. Sales cycles can be a single afternoon.

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