XML is pervasive. In a matter of years, it will fuel every application, device, and document found in enterprise networks. However, as XML proliferates, it will stress existing systems and enterprise budgets to their breaking points. This is because existing n-tier software architectures and legacy infrastructures were not designed to process this verbose new data type efficiently. What enterprises need is a new way to process XML in the network, rather than in software at the database, application server, or presentation tiers. Yet today’s existing network infrastructure is limited to switching lower layer protocols and is unable to detect XML – much less parse and process it.

An emerging class of hardware-based XML-aware network devices addresses the performance, security and management issues that come with XML’s use in enterprise applications. These purpose-built network devices enable enterprises to process high volumes of XML in a way that offers high performance, optimal security, lowest total cost of ownership, and greatest centralization of XML processing capabilities.