Are WAN plans changing?

10/09/08

It's impossible not to think about the economy these days, and its impact on business. Recent reports have shown IT buyers are rethinking their spending plans - and scaling back.

F5 speeds up Siebel CRM apps

10/07/08

When vendors do some upfront integration legwork, customers can benefit from smoother deployments and more optimal acceleration results. F5 Networks' latest focus is on improving the performance of Oracle's Siebel CRM software.

Mortgage lender speeds processing with WAN optimization

10/02/08

The question of where, physically, to locate WAN-optimization features isn't easy to answer.

BlueCoat's WAN optimization software targets teleworkers

09/30/08

Many vendors in the WAN optimization and application acceleration markets got their start as specialists, focused on specific tasks such as load balancing, compression or traffic classification. But as the market has matured, IT buyers' expectations have changed. Use of specialty optimization devices is giving way to more all-in-one appliances as enterprises look to satisfy the goal of end-to-end application acceleration.

WAN optimization vendors plot corporate growth

09/25/08

No one can accuse the WAN optimization market of standing still. Vendors continue to jockey for bigger shares of the market, as IT buyers tune in to the advantages of application acceleration and WAN performance-enhancing gear. Today I'm taking the opportunity to catch up on some corporate news in the WAN optimization world, including executive changes, global expansion and vendor consolidation.

Radware looks to optimize virtual environments

09/23/08

The buzz around virtualization grew to a roar over the last few weeks in anticipation of VMware's annual conference, which wrapped up last Thursday in Las Vegas. Application acceleration vendors weren't absent from the frenzy. In particular, Radware unveiled a new product designed to optimize the performance of applications running in virtualized server environments.

What's going on at the desktop?

09/18/08

It's not easy to know how well a public-facing Web application is performing for end users. There are just too many blind spots along Internet pathways. At the same time, it's critical for businesses to ensure customers are experiencing acceptable application response times. If a site is too slow, it won't be long before customers defect to a competitor.

Stampede, Ipanema bolster WAN options

09/16/08

Interop is underway in New York this week, and WAN optimization vendors are among the newsmakers.

Riverbed taps VMware for services platform

09/11/08

Earlier this year I wrote about Riverbed Technology's efforts to help its customers de-clutter their branch offices by hosting local services, such as print servers, on their Steelhead acceleration devices. This week Riverbed announced it's now using VMware's virtualization technology as the platform that lets customers consolidate such services on their Riverbed appliances.

Interop players emphasize application performance

09/09/08

Tools and techniques for ensuring quality application performance will play a prominent role at Interop New York, which kicks off on Sept. 15. Jim Metzler of Ashton, Metzler & Associates and co-author of Network World's Wide-Area Networking newsletter is reprising his role as chair of an Interop session track dedicated to application delivery.

Streamcore bolsters WAN visibility features

09/04/08

Visibility is a key component of application delivery. Without it, how does a company realize the traffic-management and performance benefits of WAN application and application acceleration gear?

Ipanema's new president eyes North American expansion

09/02/08

Ipanema Technologies last month announced $7 million in new financing, earmarked for global expansion and to grow its research and development operations. One of the people spearheading that expansion is Ipanema newcomer Reza Mahdavi.

Venture funding lifts WAN optimization players

08/28/08

The number of corporate branch offices keeps growing, as does the number of mobile employees. At the same time, the trend for enterprises to centralize IT resources continues. Put together, these conditions make it increasingly tough for companies to ignore the performance of applications over the WAN. That bodes well for vendors offering WAN optimization and application acceleration gear, even as IT budgets get stretched more and more thin.

WAN vendors fight for revenue

08/26/08

How are WAN optimization and application acceleration vendors faring in today's economic environment? Three players announced quarterly results in recent weeks, indicating varying degrees of success battling competitive pressures and IT spending cutbacks.

Expand restructures entry-level WAN optimization gear

08/21/08

The number of branch offices keeps climbing - and with it the need to address WAN optimization and application acceleration options for distributed office sites.

Making the most of managed network services

08/19/08

Not all managed services are created equal. New research (available for free until Aug. 29; registration required) from Aberdeen Group highlights some of the features that distinguish stellar network services from the rest of the bunch.

Free tool tests how Web apps perform across the 'Net

08/14/08

Finding out how applications are performing for end users is a task made tougher when you add the Internet to the equation. A new free tool from Keynote Systems is aimed at taking some of the guesswork out of Web performance testing.

Cisco WAAS keeps Olympic net humming

08/12/08

Cisco's Cisco IP video technology and WAN acceleration gear is playing a behind-the-scenes role in one of the most watched events worldwide: the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Crescendo riding a healthy wave

08/07/08

While some vendors say they're gearing up for lean sales (Sun and Cisco among them), Crescendo Networks is telling a different story.

WAN forecast? Olympic streaming ahead

08/05/08

Another lengthy sporting event, another round of warnings that streaming video traffic could flood corporate networks. This time it's the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing that are raising alarms.

Riverbed's partnership spree yields manageability, security gains

07/31/08

Riverbed Technology last week announced the latest in a string of partnerships designed to strengthen the company's WAN optimization offerings. Its new deal with Microsoft is aimed at improving the performance of Windows applications and protocols.

Kace tackles remote OS deployments

07/29/08

It's not always easy to keep remote sites in the IT fold. To lend a hand, systems management vendor Kace this week is unveiling a virtual appliance designed to make it simpler and less costly for IT administrators to remotely provision operating systems, without bringing the network to its knees.

F5 enjoying momentum, research firm says

07/24/08

There's a payoff for consistency and commonality. In the construction industry, buildings can be completed faster when standard or prefabricated building materials are used. In the IT industry, having standard elements that get reused in multiple products can speed time-to-market, plus cut down on costs.

Mazu upgrades network behavior analysis software

07/22/08

Keeping an eye on network performance is a chore that's never finished. To do it well, companies need to track a broad range of indicators and be able to discern potential trouble spots without getting lost in all the data.

Juniper makes a splash with new acceleration gear

07/17/08

Modularity is the theme of Juniper Networks' new trio of application acceleration appliances, unveiled this week.

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Ann Bednarz is associate news editor at Network World.