Persistent connections means all the requests from one client are connected to one web server.

• In a simple one web server setup, all the web page requests from the clients are connected to the single web server. Persistent connections is not an issue here but overloading and server crashes are.

• A more elaborate system uses a simple load director and an array of web servers as a web farm.

In this setup the load is distributed to the servers within the farm. The load is evenly distributed but the connections between a particular client and server are not assured. With each new request, the load direction may assign a different server to service the client. For static web sites, this type of connection is perfectly ok. Unfortunately, this simple scheme cannot address the demands of today's e-commerce SSL and applets. These new web e-commerce and information applications require persistent connections between specific clients and servers for the entire transaction.

• For web applications that require persistent connections, WebMux™ offers fast and efficient algorithm that setup a virtual fixed connection between a specific client and server.