feature | WAN
SIX QUICK WAYS TO BOOST WAN PERFORMANCE Garter says there are a number of ways you can improve the performance for your WAN. Here’s a quick take: Identify problems; Latency, low bandwidth, chatty applications? Write and use applications that are targeted at WANs. Boost bandwidth. Employ WAN emulation. Tune your WAN. Ask your application vendor what works. Hawthorn, VP EMEA, Blue Coat Systems. However, some vendors feature “asymmetric” WAN optimisation technologies that support SSL and use web caching, pre-fetching and pipelining to optimise cloud-based services, while remaining true to the cloud computing model. Arrabal from F5 says WAN optimisation could provide a boost to cloud services. “The amount of data that is moved between the cloud provider and the 22 Network World Middle East February 2011
Nigel Hawthorn, VP EMEA, Blue Coat Systems
enterprise can cause performance degradation – because there can be so much of it. So there’s a need for WAN optimisation, and it can be useful when data is highly compressible, when traffic can be reduced by a huge amount when it is compressed at one end and decompressed at another.” With the number of smart phones and tablets latching on to enterprise networks on the rise, mobile optimisation is another area gaining traction. “We all expect to access all information wherever we are and whenever we want it. The growth of smart-phones and iPads mean that ever smaller devices are capable of ever-greater amounts of data exchange. So, these devices need to be optimised and we’re pleased to offer client software for laptops as well as traffic control applications for Apple devices such as iPhones and iPads,” says Hawthorn. Arrabals adds another perspective: “Mobile networks are facing a choke point. Internet
If you are looking to improve application performance and cut WAN costs, use WAN optimisation or find someone who sells cheaper bandwidth. traffic will never reduce and we may reach a point – perhaps within a matter of years – where without significant investment the mobile networks will become congested to the point of affecting end-user experience, as device capabilities and demand completely outstrip available bandwidth supply. So mobile optimisation will only become more important.” The bottom line? If you are looking to improve application performance and cut WAN costs, use WAN optimisation or find someone who sells cheaper bandwidth. www.networkworldme.com