Riverbed® Steelhead® RiOS® Application Installation and Getting Started Guide 2010-10

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Overview
Accelerating WAN Connections
Large enterprises spend a significant portion of their IT budgets on storage
and networks, such as redundant servers and storage and the required backup
equipment. They then lease WAN lines to connect branch offices to the
corporate network so that employees at those branch offices can access data
on the corporate network.
Unfortunately, WANs often have low throughput and high latency because:
■ WAN lines have limited bandwidth.
■ Transport and application protocols are inefficient or chatty.
Consequently, many large enterprises are forced to spend additional revenue
trying to compensate for slow throughput.
With the Riverbed
®
Steelhead
®
RiOS
®
Application, you can solve these WAN-
related issues and improve application performance over WAN links. Riverbed
Steelhead appliances enable you to consolidate and centralize key IT
resources. For example, by installing a Steelhead appliance at a branch office,
an enterprise enables branch office employees to more easily access data at
the corporate main office. Without a Steelhead appliance, the enterprise might
have to install multiple WAN lines or deploy network servers and storage
devices at the branch office because a WAN connection to the branch office
is too slow for employees to be productive. As a result, Steelhead appliances
help organizations save money, reduce capital expenditures, simplify key
business processes, and improve productivity.
The HP AllianceONE Extended Services zl Module with Riverbed
®
Steelhead
®
RiOS
®
Application takes IT consolidation to the next level: the
Steelhead application is integrated into one of the following switches:
■ HP 5400zl Series Switch
■ HP 8200zl Series Switch