“Velocity” is a distributed in-memory application cache platform for developing scalable, high-performance applications. It can be used to cache any common language runtime (CLR) object and provides access through simple APIs. The key aspects of Velocity are distributed cache performance, scalability, and availability.

Microsoft project code named Velocity provides a highly scalable in-memory application cache for all kinds of data. By using cache, you can significantly improve application performance by avoiding unnecessary calls to the data source. Distributed cache enables your application to match increasing demand with increasing throughput by using a cache cluster that automatically manages the complexities of load balancing. When you use Velocity, you can retrieve data by using keys or other identifiers, named tags. Velocity supports optimistic and pessimistic concurrency models, high availability, and a variety of cache configurations. Velocity includes an ASP.NET session provider object that enables you to store ASP.NET session objects in the distributed cache without having to write to databases, which increases the performance and scalability of ASP.NET applications.

For community technology preview 3 (CTP3), Microsoft project code named Velocity offers several enhancements and a new API. The enhancements include a cache notifications feature, performance improvements, security enhancements, and new cluster management options. There are also updates to the installation program. Perhaps the most material change for the Velocity administrator is that your options for editing the cluster configuration settings have been decoupled from your options for storing the cluster configuration settings. For more information, see the What’s New for CTP3 topic in the product documentation.