IPA versus SXL

IP Application Accelerator (IPA) has a sister solution, Session Accelerator (SXL). IPA and SXL have very similar features with the key difference being that SXL accelerates Web applications (HTTP/HTTPS/Port 80 or 443), while IPA accelerates all other classes of IP-based applications including SSL VPNs, file transfer protocols, virtual desktops, and so on.

The Akamai web delivery platform terminates SSL at the edge and re-establishes a new connection to origin. SXL can be useful in this situation if the origin requires a direct connection to origin such as direct certificate exchanges.