To me this sounds almost the same as a database connection. If it was one, I'd recommend mod_perl and Apache::DBI. As it is none, there a few points to think about:

Has the backend a problem with idle connections?

Has the backend a problem with many connections?

Is there any kind of state in the backend connection?

If you can answer no to all these questions, then use mod_perl and just hold the connection in a global variable. It will stay there, one per webserver child, as long as the child lives. 

# Pseudocode
our $conn;
sub handler {
 my $r = shift;
 $conn ||= connect();
 send($conn, 'abc');
 print recv($conn);
 return OK;
}

[download]
And, configure the maximum, minimum idle and maximum idle number of childs to some values that match your setup...
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In reply to Re: HTTP server guidance by Beechbone
in thread HTTP server guidance by DaveH

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