WAN optimization is no longer a niche technology; it has entered the mainstream. Nothing illustrates this more clearly than Riverbed CEO Jerry Kenelly's recent July 22 announcement that 71 of the Forbes Global 100 are now Riverbed customers. Riverbed's remarkable presence within the IT infrastructures of the world's largest corporations facilitates some additional interesting observations about Riverbed and its market leadership in WAN optimization:
1) Riverbed is the most scalable WAN optimization solution -- Obviously, the largest corporations also have the greatest scalability requirements, and Riverbed's success in these environments demonstrate how Steelhead solution is the most scalable WAN optimization product available. Only facts, no bluster here--nothing proves a product offering's scalability as much as a full-scale deployment in the IT environment of a Forbes Global 100 company.
2) Riverbed delivers a very strong return-on-investment (ROI) -- Would the majority of the largest enterprises in the world be deploying Riverbed if there were not a strong ROI? The rapid adoption of Riverbed is easy to understand in light of an IDC study showing an average pay-back period of 6.9 months, and an overall ROI of 457% over a 3-year period. With such a strong ROI, it is no wonder that the largest enterprises are rushing to deploy Riverbed, even during one of the most difficult economic periods in recent history.
3) Riverbed is the lowest risk option -- One of the worst nightmares for an IT director is to invest in a product that sucks up the time and resources of your staff, causes network disruptions, exhibits an inordinate number of bugs, and generally doesn't work as expected. Fortunately, the Riverbed offering has been vetted and tested in the largest, most demanding networks in the world. If the Riverbed solution works for the most difficult network environments imaginable, then it will almost certainly work for your own environment.
4) Riverbed offers strong worldwide support capabilities for global corporations -- Riverbed has over 100 dedicated support engineers located in at least eight locations around the world (Amsterdam, London, new York, San Francisco, Singapore, Sunnyvale, Sydney, and Tokyo) who provide 24 x 7 global coverage for Riverbed's customers. Riverbed's support engineers are focused on one thing only--supporting Riverbed WAN optimization and network management products.
5) If you haven't deployed Riverbed, you may be missing out -- Achieving the competitiveness necessary to weather difficult economic conditions requires that businesses have cost-effective IT infrastructure that maximizes the employee productivity. If you haven't deployed Riverbed, it's likely that your competitors have, or are in the process of a Riverbed deployment. For those who have deployed Riverbed, the additional 15.3 hours of annual productivity per employee (according to IDC's study) contributes to competitiveness needed to not only survive, but thrive in difficult economic conditions.