* Gartner's Magic Quadrant report on WAN optimization controller vendors
For enterprise network managers looking into WAN optimization products, a recent report by research firm Gartner could provide the technology details they need to narrow down their search.
A slew of vendors promise to increase application performance over wide-area nets and Gartner this month revealed those that it thinks are in the lead with technology vision and actual products delivery. Gartner recently released its Magic Quadrant report on WAN optimization controller, or WOC, vendors. Companies Gartner places in this category deliver products that are deployed symmetrically, on either end of a WAN link, to improve the performance of applications accessed across the WAN. WOC technologies typically address bandwidth consumption, latency and protocol issues.
“Optimization techniques for WANs can improve most organizations’ application response times, particularly where network latency is high, which is often due to centralization of servers and IT resources,” Gartner says in the report.
According to Gartner, Expand Networks, Juniper Networks and Riverbed Technology are the leaders in terms of their vision and their ability to execute, respectively. Among some 16 vendors researched in this report, Gartner analysts Andy Rolfe and Joe Skorupa classified those three among the leaders for various reasons. The report details at length the strengths and weakness of vendors in the market and ultimately shows how products differ.
Despite strengths and weakness among vendors, industry watchers say there is no one product to fit all enterprise optimization needs. And the Gartner analysts warn enterprise IT managers to choose optimization products based on their specific needs.
“The WOC market is rapidly maturing, but it is still dynamic with a high-level of vendor innovation. This has led to different vendors offering different combinations of features,” the report reads. “So before choosing a vendor, ensure you understand the applications and services running on the network and the protocols that they use.”
For instance, Gartner advises, “Consider Expand where a broad feature set or server-less branches are key requirements.” And when a broad feature set and global support are needed, the report says to “consider Juniper.” And the analysts conclude, “Riverbed should be on your shortlist if accelerating HTTP, e-mail, client/server and file traffic are key requirements.”
