Managing incoming requests among a bank of Web servers remains an enigmatic topic for many, but for those assigned the mission of keeping high-volume Web sites running, load balancers, the tool for the job, are indispensable. Enter our two favorite high-end load-balancing pieces of hardware, the Alteon 180e and the F5 BIG-IP HA+.

The 180e tames load-balancing demons with style. We found the 180e to have "excellent flexibility, scalability, and throughput." It's an eight-port 10/100/1000 Ethernet switch that uses a custom CPU on each port to achieve high throughput. An additional CPU runs Alteon's Web OS load-balancing software, featuring a sensible browser-based interface.

Alteon's real-time monitoring tools and the ability to spread load-balancing duties among up to 64 Alteon let you route server traffic based on geographic proximity to the client, resulting in lower communications costs and a better client experience.

The F5 BIG-IP HA+ bundles two BIG-IP load balancers linked with a serial cable or LAN segment. The BIG-IP HA+ offers redundancy, so traffic gets through even if one unit fails. The F5's server pool feature lets administrators create different load-balancing rules for different traffic types.

Like the Alteon 180e, the BIG-IP HA+ offers a complete, elegant browser-based interface. A big plus for BIG-IP HA+: All units are installed and configured on-site by an F5 technician; our test installation took under an hour.

Alteon 180e, $22,000 list. Alteon Web Systems Inc., www.alteonwebsystems.com. F5 BIG-IP HA, $46,250 list. F5 Networks, www.f5.com. First Review: April 4, 2000.