Forrester

Why Read This Report

Citrix Systems currently offers one of the best WAN optimization strategies and positions WAN optimization as part of the larger application delivery infrastructure. Its WANScaler product offers very strong optimization architecture that deploys at Layer 2 — thus eliminating any Layer 3 complications to your WAN routing — as well as auto-detection of appropriate optimization techniques to minimize policy requirements for your network administrators. Citrix also provides one of the more apt solutions for accelerating the Citrix ICA protocol, but upcoming enhancements will cement WANScaler as the de facto optimization device for large Presentation Server deployments. Additionally, integration of WANScaler with the existing Citrix portfolio will also solve near-term issues around central management and provide more detailed monitoring, auditing, and logging. However, Citrix still needs to bolster core features like multiprotocol byte- and object-level caching as well as a more scalable device to address enterprises that are running large, meshed WANs.