OTTAWA, Ontario--BUSINESS WIRE--Solace Systems, the leading provider of hardware-based middleware, today announced the release of V5.0 of SolOS, the specialized firmware used to control and manage Solace message and content routers. This release includes many new features and optimizations that provide additional benefits to its hardware-based platform as compared to software alternatives. The release features several messaging firsts, virtually all of which were suggested by customers in various stages of deployment on Solace’s platform.

“At Solace, we constantly aim to provide a middleware experience more like operating network equipment than the complex software and server deployments in use today – just rack it and run it – we deal with the complexity in R&D.”

• Message eliding is a new concept for messaging systems, offering rate control for message streams where multiple updates to a single topic can be consolidated into only the most recent update. Common use cases include streaming market data to human traders at a personalized rate or rate limiting traffic over a WAN. To date, applications above the messaging system have had to provide this functionality, for example, some feed handlers or applications provide quote conflation for equities or FX trading. With message eliding, this ability is available to any application that needs it, improving time-to-market, removing business risk and lowering costs of development and testing for those applications.
• Solace router virtualization enables administrators to split one physical Solace deployment into as many as 500 virtual instances, each with separate security and operational characteristics. Administrators can control detailed resource usage for each virtual instance to ensure smooth operations within each virtual instance. Virtualization is central to the Unified Messaging Platform since it allows multiple applications and groups to share equipment without compromising security or performance of each. Once the first applications are deployed, additional applications can be virtualized on the same equipment using a simple configuration change, reducing the time it takes to deploy new applications and improving overall datacenter efficiency. Furthermore, virtualization enables messaging as a secure, shared network service within a cloud or software-as-a-service environment.
• Plug-and-play routing of message networks as installations grow. A number of efficiencies have been added including the ability to more efficiently route messages over the LAN, MAN and WAN, compress messages in hardware, and optimize latency over wide area network links.

“Traditional software middleware has developed the reputation of being fragile and difficult to manage when it grows beyond even the simplest deployments,” said Shawn McAllister, Solace’s CTO. “At Solace, we constantly aim to provide a middleware experience more like operating network equipment than the complex software and server deployments in use today – just rack it and run it – we deal with the complexity in R&D.”

The addition of these new features lowers application development time and enables faster time to production. This means lower costs and reduced risk for middleware operations teams.

“Trading firms need to be thinking about agility long-term,” said Adam Honore, Research Director at Aite Group. “Planning for new asset classes, new geographies, new trading venues, and new data types requires firms to look forward at their needs surrounding distributing disparate data and conserving rack space for colocation.”

Solace V5.0 is in general availability now and is installed at many customer sites.

About Solace Systems

Solace Systems www.solacesystems.com is the leading provider of middleware appliances. Middleware, which has historically been software-based, enables disparate enterprise applications and information systems to share information. By performing this function in purpose-built hardware, Solace products accelerate information flow while reducing the cost and complexity of IT infrastructure. Solace products have been successfully deployed by global leaders in many segments of the financial services market buy side firms, investment banks, exchanges, and financial information providers and other markets such as government, telecommunications, transportation and logistics, and utility computing.