Citrix this week is introducing a streamlined edition of its NetScaler Web front-end appliance for customers who don't need or can't afford the full-blown version.

The new appliance, called Citrix NetScaler Application Switch Standard Edition with Global Server Load Balancing, sits between data centers and is designed to speed up SSL connections, multiplex TCP sessions, accelerate applications and compress HTTP traffic.

This device is tuned for supporting a Citrix Presentation Server environment for thin-client access to applications in distributed data centers. If one data center is unavailable or overloaded, the NetScaler standard edition can redirect traffic to an available site that is less busy. This is done without any intervention by the user attempting to access the application.

This capability was previously possible using Citrix's more expensive application switch Enterprise Edition, which starts at US$35,000. The new switch equipped with the load-balancing module costs US$27,500. It has been customized for support of Presentation Server and for simplified configuration compared with the Enterprise edition, Citrix says.