IBM WebSphere Edge Server

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WebSphere Edge Server (now renamed "WebSphere Edge Components") is a set of web server/application server components that are intended to improve the performance of web-based systems. It is part of the IBM WebSphere product suite. It is effectively used as either a forward or reverse proxy server.

Edge Server comprises 4 basic components:

Network Dispatcher: Used to direct incoming requests to an appropriate server based on a set of rules which may include load balancing requests across several servers and content-based routing (i.e. redirecting a request based on the content of that request)
Caching Proxy: The caching proxy system can be configured as either a forward- or reverse-proxy server. Requested content is cached by Edge before being sent to the requestor. It is able to cache dynamically generated (but slowly changing) page fragments from JavaServer Pages and servlets. A primary use of Edge server is therefore to increase the performance and scalabity of J2EE applications.
Content Distribution: Used to synchronize static web content across a number of web servers when content is published
Application Service at the Edge: Ability to build a dynamic web page from fragments generated by multiple application servers

Edge can be configured for high availability with a backup Edge failover server that takes over sessions if the primary Edge server fails.