FatPipe’s Patent for Session Based Outbound Load Balancing
At its simplest definition session based outbound load balancing is the ability to make an intelligent decision on which, of multiple, WAN connections on which to start a session. In today’s networks where multiple WAN connections are becoming more and more prevalent this doesn’t seem like a revolutionary concept, however 1999 that was not the case.
In 1999 Windows NT was still battling Novell Netware for supremacy in corporate IT, there was still a discussion of whether TCP/IP or IPX/SPX would be the network protocol standard, and while most of the world was worrying whether or not computers would stop working on Y2K FatPipe filed for its second patent.
US Patent #6,493,341 was awarded December 10, 2002 and contains 23 technical claims. A simple summary of this patent is a when controller receives a SYN packet destined for an external network, the controller makes a decision based on a least one load balancing criterion as to which WAN router to forward that SYN packet.
The patent is the foundation of all outbound session based load balancing. FatPipe’s technical claims in this patent were recently validated in a Marksman hearing associated with an on-going patent infringement suit.