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Outbyte Driver Updater FREEFix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Outbyte PC Repair FREEClear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Certeon’s aCelera Virtual Appliance was software designed to speed access to enterprise applications across a wide-area network (WAN). Announced in 2008, it ran inside a virtual machine instead of requiring a dedicated acceleration appliance. Certeon claimed it could reduce response time by up to 95%; that was the company’s claim at the time, not an independently established result.
What aCelera was designed to do
Remote employees often access applications hosted at a central data center over WAN links. Certeon positioned aCelera as a way to improve that experience while reducing the need for separate acceleration hardware at branch offices or data centers. Its functions included packet compression, quality of service (QoS), and optimization for HTTP, TCP, and CIFS traffic.
The product also included application “blueprints” for Microsoft Office, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server, EMC Documentum, and eRoom. These were described as embedded application-specific configurations; the 2008 report does not detail their settings or quantify performance for individual applications. Network World’s May 20, 2008 report attributes the up-to-95% response-time reduction claim to Certeon.
How the virtual appliance fit into a network
aCelera ran natively inside a virtual machine. The intended distinction from a traditional appliance was deployment: organizations could provide acceleration as software in their virtual server infrastructure rather than installing dedicated acceleration hardware. Compression, QoS, and protocol optimization were the reported techniques; the article does not specify a topology, configuration procedure, or conditions for reproducing the performance claim.
#1 Best Overall
VMware support and planned Hyper-V support
At announcement, Certeon said aCelera was certified for VMware ESX and ESXi and integrated with VMware Virtual Center for centralized provisioning and management visibility. The report also said Hyper-V support was planned for later in 2008. That was a plan announced at the time, not confirmation that support shipped.
Price and licensing reported in 2008
Network World reported a starting price of $2,495. Pricing depended on the number of users, and a purchased license reportedly allowed deployment of as many aCelera instances as needed at a given location. These are historical announcement-era terms, not current pricing or an offer for sale.
Rank #2
Is Certeon aCelera still available?
The 2008 announcement establishes what the product was and how Certeon described it then. It does not establish whether aCelera is currently sold, supported, downloadable, or compatible with present-day hypervisors. The cited report also does not provide a full comparison with other WAN-acceleration products, so it cannot support a current recommendation or a competitor ranking.
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Rank #3
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