wan optimization
WAN optimisation choices in the age of cloud and virtualisation
Three trends are changing the way organisations must think about application traffic on the
network: the increasingly distributed enterprise, the rise of real-time applications
(video in particular), and the rise in server virtualisation and cloud computing. As a result of these trends, enterprise application
traffic -- both end-user-facing and generated as part of applications' internal workings -- is
increasingly flowing across the WAN and the Internet. In the face of these changes, the network
must become more intelligent and more focused on application delivery optimisation.
Where next; what about cloud WAN optimisation and mobile WAN optimisation?
Two recent trends in IT more widely have pulled WAN optimisation along. These are the cloud and the proliferation of mobile and the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) phenomenon.
The rise of the cloud has brought the possibility of doing away with appliances – physical or virtual – as the location for WAN optimisation processing. Now, it’s possible for a third-party provider to optimise WAN traffic in the cloud.
Customers are provided with a VPN link into the cloud and the provider takes care of optimising traffic. Of course, you still need bandwidth to and from the provider, but the cloud service can take care of caching persistently accessed data at a point of presence close to your site. One example of cloud optimisation providers is Aryaka, which provides optimised internet connections via 25 points of presence worldwide.
Mobile optimisation, meanwhile, tackles the BYOD phenomenon, and is where a so-called “branch office of one” or an employee with a mobile device can have traffic to and from their hardware optimised via on-board software. Mobile optimisation products are available from the likes of Riverbed, as well as networking specialists such as Circadence.
Such products provide performance benefits, but are, however, limited in their capabilities compared with those suited to larger sites, as they don’t have multiple streams of data that provide optimisation opportunities, and of course they also contend for processing power on the employee device.
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