Network optimisation market speeds up

Cisco could face a tougher battle when it comes to selling companies kit to help them optimise WAN after one of its competitors released a raft of upgrades to its flagship operating system.

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Networking specialist Riverbed has announced it has developed enhancements around the new release of its operating system, which is called RiOS 5.0. One of the key additions is the fact Riverbed's WAN optimisation controller, called the Steelhead, is now able to optimise Microsoft Exchange 2007 traffic.

Riverbed claims Office 2007-based email traffic can now be delivered in one-tenth of the time but, as with all WAN optimisation technologies, that figure depends on bandwidth utilisation and the type of data being sent.

Riverbed is also trying to accelerate HTTP traffic, which could be useful for remote workers using web-based applications.

The company offers a software client that can be downloaded to a remote worker's notebook and stores a multitude of information used by the individual's web browser. This includes images, scripts and other embedded objects. WAN optimisation is one of the few of network technologies in which Cisco does not have a commanding lead.

The router behemoth distanced itself for several years from WAN optimisation technologies, arguing that they were unnecessary, and only started releasing such products in 2006.

Mark Fabbi, vice president for enterprise communications at analyst firm Gartner, said he saw key benefits in WAN optimisation: "There is a pretty big demand for this type of technology. WAN optimisation today solves branch office [bandwidth] problems," he said.

But Fabbi warned that Cisco was lagging behind in its developments. "Cisco doesn't understand the nuances of applications like other vendors. You should never presume or buy Cisco kit by default. They tend to downplay requirements [for WAN optimisation] in the marketplace."

Riverbed has also said it wants to open its Steelhead platform for companies to develop related services. This could include print services, DNS, DHCP and security, according to the company's European director of marketing Mark Lewis, who said there would be major announcements forthcoming in the area.

Original article: Cisco faces competition over WAN optimisation from ZDNet UK