For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: WAN Optimization, Q4 2009

Blue Coat And Riverbed Lead, With Expand And Cisco Close Behind

by Chris Silva, November 10, 2009

In Forrester's 65-criteria evaluation of wide-area network (WAN) optimization vendors, we found that Blue Coat Systems and Riverbed Technology lead the pack, in part due to the changes these vendors made over the past year through acquisition of complementary . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Identifying Components Of The Network Skills Gap

Identify Roles And Skills That Are Significantly Important For Successful Network Management

by Chris Silva, Usman Sindhu, June 12, 2009

Organizations are upgrading their infrastructure with technologies that improve network efficiency, performance, security, and management. As a result, IT ops pros' roles must also evolve in network, system, service, and operation management skills. These . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

TechRadar™ For IT Infrastructure And Operations Professionals: Branch Office Technologies, Q2 2009

Core Technologies Ripe For Consolidation And Centralization

by Chris Silva, May 26, 2009

As businesses look to IT for the efficiencies, savings, and streamlining that will improve the bottom line, consolidation of branch office infrastructure represents a distributed but easy-to-optimize area of IT infrastructure. All the technologies included . . .

For Vendor Strategy Professionals

CDN Road Map: New Solutions Storm The Market

Bundled Services Expand The Business Value Of Content Delivery

by Henry Dewing, May 22, 2009

Content delivery network (CDN) leaders like Akamai Technologies, Limelight Networks, and CDNetworks face a perfect storm. Ever more demanding customers, a burgeoning Web, and new content delivery business models threaten to undermine the leading position . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Understanding The Network Skills Gap

Emerging Network Technologies Exacerbate Skills Shortcomings

by Chris Silva, March 5, 2009

Organizations are looking to IT to bring cost savings and efficiency to the business in the unsure future of 2009. In most organizations, this has led to IT being tasked with increasing network design complexity through the uptake of higher-level networking . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Inquiry Spotlight: WAN Optimization, Q1 2009

by Chris Silva, January 29, 2009

Companies today are pushing more and more traffic over their WANs from a number of different sources. Whether it be new content delivery networks, mission-critical network-dependent apps, or mobile user and branch office traffic, networks can quickly . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Time Is Right For WAN Optimization Managed Services

Telcos Are Well Placed To Move Up The Value Chain By Managing Enterprise WANs

by Phil Sayer, January 15, 2009

All the major telcos and systems integrators are now offering wide area network (WAN) optimization managed services. Forrester's view is that in the current economic climate these services will prove attractive to firms looking to improve application . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Q&A: Is Mobile WAN Optimization Right For You?

Enhancing Mobile Computing Inside And Outside The Organization

by Chris Silva, June 3, 2008

WAN optimization is no only longer only a point-to-point technology for accelerating traffic among branches and data centers. Instead, companies that have turned to the Internet as their corporate WAN are looking to apply WAN optimization to all of their . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Today's WANs Don't Keep Pace With Applications

Growing Applications And Content Point To The Internet As The Future WAN

by Robert Whiteley, April 23, 2008

Your organization's demand for network capacity is growing at exponential rates. Why? Because new application trends like Social Computing and Web services, coupled with interactive content like video, drive massive bandwidth need. Your network operations . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Packeteer Provides The Deepest Application Visibility For WAN Optimization

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

Packeteer is at an interesting juncture. It was the original WAN optimization vendor, but its original product — PacketShaper — predominantly focused on traffic management and quality of service (QoS). It has since acquired Tacit Networks, which provides . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Blue Coat Systems Adds Security And Control To WAN Optimization Appliances

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

Blue Coat Systems surprised us with its very strong offering and came in fourth in our evaluation, almost tied for third. In addition to one of the best optimization architectures, Blue Coat also provides a strong road map for broader application delivery . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Citrix Systems Automates WAN Optimization Deployments

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

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 . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Juniper Networks Has The Best WAN Optimization Strategy

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

Juniper came in as the second strongest vendor all around. Its WX and WXC WAN optimization appliances are some of the most sophisticated, with particularly high scores for deployment capabilities, compression, and its comprehensive management system. . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

F5 Networks Is Busy Integrating WAN Optimization With Application Accelerators

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

F5 jumped out to an early mindshare lead in WAN optimization with its acquisition of Swan Labs back in 2005. Since then, it has been busy working on integrating its WANJet technology into its TMOS architecture, which forms the basis of its flagship BIG-IP . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Silver Peak Systems Provides The Most Scalable WAN Optimization Appliance

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

Silver Peak Systems provided the most technologically superior solution. It scored the highest on current offering, and its solution provides a full suite of optimization techniques as well as a performance-oriented solution. Silver Peak specializes in . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Riverbed Technology Leads The WAN Optimization Appliance Market

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

Riverbed and its Steelhead appliance is the clear Leader of the WAN optimization market. It has a top-notch product, and it will continue to expand on its strategy as the best standalone optimization vendor. In particular, Riverbed has innovatively combined . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Expand Networks Looks To Partner And Embed WAN Optimization In Network Infrastructure

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

Expand Networks turned in a solid product that ended up in the middle of the pack. It's one of the most well-established WAN optimization vendors, having entered the market in 1998, but it lacks some of the more innovative functionality such as multiprotocol . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Cisco Systems Integrates WAN Optimization Into Your Existing Network Infrastructure

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q3 2007

by Robert Whiteley, July 20, 2007

Cisco Systems' Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) technology is a Strong Performer and placed just outside the Leaders category in our evaluation. We found Cisco's WAAS architecture to provide the full suite of optimization techniques as well as the . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: WAN Optimization Appliances, Q3 2007

Riverbed And Juniper Lead The Emerging Acceleration Landscape

by Robert Whiteley, June 20, 2007

Forrester evaluated leading WAN optimization appliance vendors across 65 criteria and found that Riverbed and Juniper have established early leadership. They have demonstrated early innovation in the most critical optimization techniques like caching, . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

WAN Optimization: What You Really Need To Know

by Robert Whiteley, April 5, 2007

The wide area network (WAN) is a widely used, but terribly neglected, IT asset. For most companies, the WAN is the cause of many application performance woes. That's where WAN optimization — sometimes referred to as WAN acceleration — comes in. It improves . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Managing IT From The End User Perspective In 2006

by Jean-Pierre Garbani, December 15, 2006

The trends that we identified in 2005 — the focus on incident and problem management and the consolidation through acquisition of small, innovative upstarts by larger and more established companies — were confirmed in 2006. In addition, 2006 ushered in . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

The Forrester Wave™: SSL VPN Appliances, Q4 2006

Juniper Networks Leads The Pack, But Aventail And Citrix Are Closing In

by Robert Whiteley, December 8, 2006

Forrester evaluated leading SSL VPN appliance vendors across 57 criteria and found that Juniper Networks maintains its SSL VPN leadership thanks to its superior reverse proxy technology and focus on secure mobility. Aventail trails close behind with its . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Caymas Systems Introduces NAC To The SSL VPN Appliance Market

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q4 2006

by Robert Whiteley, December 8, 2006

Caymas Systems is the smallest and least well-known vendor in this evaluation, but we recommend that enterprises short-list this vendor. Why? Because its Identity-Driven Access Gateways provide an innovative combination of remote access — both SSL and . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

F5 Networks Provides The Best Policy In The SSL VPN Appliance Market

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q4 2006

by Robert Whiteley, December 8, 2006

F5 Networks has been heads-down on integrating its FirePass SSL VPN solution into its modular TMOS architecture, which runs on products like its flagship BIG-IP application acceleration device. The result is a competitive solution, but the integration . . .

For Infrastructure & Operations Professionals

Juniper Networks Leads The SSL VPN Appliance Market

The Forrester Wave™ Vendor Summary, Q4 2006

by Robert Whiteley, December 8, 2006

Juniper Networks is the clear leader in the SSL VPN market. Although its solution has enjoyed a much more comfortable lead in the past, Juniper continues to maintain its success by focusing on superior client access, endpoint security, and reliability. . . .