In the busy world of WAN optimization and application acceleration, there are always new products being unveiled and deals being closed. Here's a recap of some of the latest news items.

* Replify upgrades application acceleration software
Replify last week unveiled a new version of its software-based application acceleration technology. Founded in 2007, Replify is based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The new version of its Reptor software has been upgraded to improve application performance for remote workgroups by consolidating file requests on Replify’s workgroup accelerator, according to CTO Wesley Darlington. “This means that files that are being requested by multiple users are cached locally rather than being sent up and down the same pipe for different users,” Darlington said in a statement. “Plus we strip out all the unnecessary, duplicated junk that tends to be sent up and down the line to and from work-groups.” Reptor 3.2 also adds new features for accelerating document-sharing applications such as SharePoint and Lotus Notes and bolsters support for SSL certificate management and HTTPS.

* Gomez grows desktop test network
Gomez has doubled the number of desktops that feed data to its Web-site performance load testing and monitoring service, which is designed to help companies gauge how end users experience their Web sites. Today Gomez gathers Web application performance data from 80,000 end-user desktop computers in 162 countries, connected to the Web over dial-up, DSL, cable, low and high broadband via more than 2,500 ISPs. The ExperienceFirst network can help expose how variables like location, consumer-grade ISPs, content delivery networks, connection speeds, and computer types impact the end-user’s Web performance, Gomez says. It also is designed to help companies identify the root causes of performance issues such as slow-loading pages, missing content and transaction errors.

* Riverbed closes Mazu deal
Late in February, Riverbed Technology completed its acquisition of Mazu Networks (a deal first announced in January) and announced that Mazu CEO Paul Brady will run Riverbed’s application intelligence business unit. Through the Mazu deal Riverbed gains application performance reporting and analytics technology that complements its WAN optimization products. Mazu’s products, which have been renamed Cascade, analyze network traffic and provide data about the interactions and dependencies among users, applications and systems, Riverbed says.

Ann Bednarz is associate news editor at Network World.