How WAN optimization optimizes applications, servers, and networks

Many enterprises believe WAN optimization simply reduces bandwidth utilization. But optimizing the network in this way - via compression, QoS, or TCP optimization - is only one part of the solution needed to truly improve application performance across the network.

Unlike other approaches to application acceleration, Riverbed's WAN optimization solutions can provide dramatic application performance increases - 5 times, 10 times and in some cases up to 100 times faster - across the broad range of applications that enterprises care about the most.

Riverbed's solutions drive this type of benefit to all locations where an enterprise does business – the branch office, out in the field or customer site with the mobile worker, and in primary and secondary data centers for DR processes as well.

In addition to accelerating application performance, Riverbed gives you the ability to enhance your infrastructure visibility and analyze whether your resources are being used best for your business. This means you can accelerate key applications and control your resources to best suit your enterprise needs.

Enterprises today depend on a wide variety of applications to make their organizations function effectively. After all, how many organizations run solely on file sharing or email? Any effective solution for application acceleration must provide significant acceleration and visibility for all key applications that cross the WAN.

Moreover, WAN optimization is not a one-time medicine applied to an environment. Complete WAN optimization solutions give users the ability to measure pain points, alleviate the problems, attest to the cure, and then adjust according to what the business needs in the future. Enterprise application performance is an ongoing challenge, and Riverbed provides a complete set of tools to help businesses attain their goals.

To make the application performance leap that enterprises need, a radically different approach must be taken: Simultaneously address bandwidth constraints, TCP's behavior in high latency networks, and inefficiencies in the applications themselves. Moreover, enterprises must provide application-level visibility into the complete IT infrastructure, and then use their IT optimization infrastructure to create global controls that allow businesses to deliver the performance they need. Riverbed can provide this complete solution to the application performance challenge.