Although Riverbed won the competition for WAN Optimization, it’s heartening to see that NW recognize that WAN Optimization alone is a bit of a one-trick pony these days. Visibility, bandwidth management and prioritization are critical components to match applications with the appropriate style of control.

“…However, WAN optimization has evolved to encompass other features, such as traffic management and visibility. Here, we find that Riverbed’s Steelhead could use some work. (Its) Traffic management is good, but not great. Visibility is limited in a way that pushes network managers to use Riverbed’s own tools, rather than opening up to the growing world of standards-based flow analysis products. And new features, such as WAN path selection, don’t live up to Steelhead’s traditional technology leadership.”…”

When you see the indicative pricing, you’ll need to add some serious contingency to include visibility for the players that don’t quite make the grade.

Read the article here