This nice benchmark compares simple caching solutions for Django, either integrated or front-end, which provide amazing performance boost:
http://www.codysoyland.com/2010/jan/17/evaluating-django-caching-options/
Note that their all very simple to use (usually transparent to the application) & enable a x250 boost in response time & throughput.
For those who are getting (or want to) started with memcached:
http://www.hugotroche.com/my_weblog/2008/06/ehcache-vs-memc.html
http://lemnik.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/why-memcached-is-probably-a-bad-idea-for-your-java-app/
http://gregluck.com/blog/archives/2007/05/comparing_memca.html
