WAN optimization turf wars

Back to main story: The next three big WAN optimization targets

For some industry watchers, the integration of WAN optimization and acceleration technologies into routers and switches is inevitable.

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"The technology is all about improving the performance of applications for clients through manipulation of the network," says Zeus Kerravala, a research vice president at Yankee Group. "It will be a bit of time before it is fully integrated, but unless you are going to teach every software developer about how to make applications work on networks, you are going to have to embed the intelligence and capabilities into the network."

For others, the application-delivery technology isn't a logical extension of a packet-delivery network.

"It doesn't make sense for the router to swallow up WAN optimization," says Joe Skorupa, a research director at Gartner. "Networks and applications are still two very different skill sets. It's one thing to build a router with an integrated firewall, but it's an entirely different beast to build [application intelligence] into network gear."

And although many users like the idea of reducing the number of appliances, they must distribute to remote locations, they understand that eliminating appliances altogether isn't always feasible. Such is the case at Nanometrics, a semiconductor vendor in Milpitas, Calif.

"We have a lot of offices around the world, and I need to get our CRM application out to remote sales and service staff. When I did the math on how to support all these places, well, spending money on a DS-3 was just not cost effective," says David Kizer, IT director at Nanometrics.