Build an Open Source SSL Accelerator
Amin Zelfani writes "SSL accelerators like Big-IP 6900 from F5 Networks typically carry a $50k or more price tag. An article over at o3magazine.com shows you how to build an SSL accelerator that's on par with the commercial solutions, using Open Source projects. SSL Accelerators offload the encryption / decryption process from web servers, reducing load and reducing the number of certificates needed."
The problem with that is that you still have the performance hit of calling the ROT-13 function times four (twice for encryption, twice for decryption).
I'll sell you my ROT-52 accelerator card for $50,000 which will do it all in one function call, and hardware accelerated to boot! Did I mention it supports unicode?
If their solution was really worthwhile, wouldn't the link to the article have been https:/// instead of just http:// ?