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[06-04-2009 12:00 PM] nrouda: Thank you everyone for joining today's virtual lounge chat event titled "Unbelievable Cost Savings".

[06-04-2009 12:00 PM] nrouda: My name is Nik Rouda, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Riverbed and for the next 20 to 30 minutes we will be chatting about how WAN optimization and specifically Riverbed can help you dramatically cut costs in a variety of ways throughout your IT infrastructure.

[06-04-2009 12:00 PM] nrouda: I am very excited to have with us today Zeus Kerravala, Senior Vice President of the Yankee Group and one of the premiere analysts that follows the WAN optimization market very closely.

[06-04-2009 12:01 PM] zkerravala: Hello everyone

[06-04-2009 12:01 PM] nrouda: Before we get started, a couple of housekeeping items: If you have a question during this session, please submit it after my chat with Zeus. All I ask is that you please try to keep your questions on topic.

[06-04-2009 12:01 PM] nrouda: With that, let's get started. I will kick things off by asking Zeus the first question.

[06-04-2009 12:02 PM] nrouda: Zeus, you cover IT broadly in your role as an analyst. What do you see as the hot trends and initiatives these days?

[06-04-2009 12:03 PM] zkerravala: Thanks Nik. Sure, as an analyst I run the global enterprise reserach organization for yankee group. For coverage area, I do research in the areas that impact network operations. Today, the hot trends are virtualization, collaboration, mobility and the economy of course is always talked about. While much of this is tactical, I am starting to see more strategic use of these technologies

[06-04-2009 12:04 PM] nrouda: What do you think is driving these initiatives?

[06-04-2009 12:04 PM] nrouda: Is it all economic pressure? Or are companies being strategic and innovative?

[06-04-2009 12:05 PM] zkerravala: Well cost cutting was the initial driver for many of these however, the big driver, the holy grail if you will for most organizations is to be able to deliver any content to any worker or device any where in the world with a user experience that allows the worker to be productive. This vision, we at Yankee Group call the Anywhere Enterprise

[06-04-2009 12:06 PM] zkerravala: So its not all economy. It was about six months ago but were starting to see more innovation

[06-04-2009 12:06 PM] nrouda: So to deliver content anywhere implies a heavy reliance on the networks.

[06-04-2009 12:06 PM] nrouda: What are the challenges companies have in setting up this service oriented approach?

[06-04-2009 12:07 PM] zkerravala: Absolutely. I think the network was thought of by many over the years to be the "plumbing" and had no impact on applications or users. Today, the network is looked at to solve many of the application performance problems that exist doay

[06-04-2009 12:07 PM] nrouda: So if the network does impact performance, what can customers do to improve the experience?

[06-04-2009 12:08 PM] nrouda: Upgrade bandwidth?

[06-04-2009 12:08 PM] zkerravala: Companys are dependant on WAN performance for improving productivity, improving application performance and delivering new services

[06-04-2009 12:08 PM] nrouda: Restrict usage?

[06-04-2009 12:08 PM] nrouda: Implement QoS?

[06-04-2009 12:09 PM] zkerravala: Well those are the traditonal ways of "improving performance" In fact in a survey we did last year, hardware and bandwidth upgrades were the most common methods of improving performance of applications but often companies found that this didnt always work

[06-04-2009 12:09 PM] nrouda: So that suggests companies need to try something new.

[06-04-2009 12:09 PM] nrouda: Any suggestions?

[06-04-2009 12:09 PM] zkerravala: Not all problems are bandwidth or hardware realted. QoS can solve some prodblems but some application protocols just do not run effecitvely over the WAN

[06-04-2009 12:10 PM] zkerravala: Addtionally bandwidth isnt free and wont be any time soon. WAN optimization is a soltuion for many mission critical applications such as email, file services, database performance, etc

[06-04-2009 12:11 PM] zkerravala: Its a relatively new technology to many organizations though and a new way of solving the problems we've had for years

[06-04-2009 12:11 PM] nrouda: So WAN optimization might be a great approach. How does it help?

[06-04-2009 12:11 PM] nrouda: Just a reminder, we'll take user questions in about ten minutes.

[06-04-2009 12:12 PM] zkerravala: Well WAN optimization is a device that sits at the WAN edge and manipluates application protcols to improve the performance. It can actually accelarate the way an application performs on a network

[06-04-2009 12:13 PM] nrouda: Very cool. Obviously we here at Riverbed believe in the value. Can you share any examples of what customers have done with WAN optimization?

[06-04-2009 12:14 PM] zkerravala: sure

[06-04-2009 12:15 PM] zkerravala: For example Rayonier, a forest products company was having a problem where its it staff was decentralized across five continents. The IT team had an initiavive to consolidate 8 data centers down to 2 to reduce costs, east managability and improve availability

[06-04-2009 12:15 PM] nrouda: And WAN optimization enabled the consolidation, right?

[06-04-2009 12:15 PM] zkerravala: Application performance was a huge problem as well as the applications were moved offsite and the data centers were consolidated

[06-04-2009 12:16 PM] nrouda: So I'm assuming a network upgrade was considered, but the cost might have been an issue.

[06-04-2009 12:16 PM] zkerravala: Yes, WAN optimization was used to assist with the consolidation and the company saw an average bandwith reduction of 70 to 90%, wich gave them 13 to 16 T1 lines of performance

[06-04-2009 12:16 PM] zkerravala: the ROI was under 12 months and they have more happier users

[06-04-2009 12:17 PM] nrouda: Great story!

[06-04-2009 12:17 PM] nrouda: I know Rayonier presented at Interop about this too.

[06-04-2009 12:17 PM] zkerravala: Correct, network upgrades were considered but would have been orders of magnitude more expensive

[06-04-2009 12:18 PM] nrouda: Aside from consolidation, what other types of problems might be good candidates for WAN optimization?

[06-04-2009 12:18 PM] zkerravala: RCM finanical is another example where they were looking at having to build new data centers to support global workers

[06-04-2009 12:19 PM] zkerravala: Each one would have cost tens of thousands. WAN optimization was used to avoid data center builds! One device is much cheaper than a whole data center!

[06-04-2009 12:19 PM] nrouda: So cost avoidance seems like a big source of value in WAN optimization.

[06-04-2009 12:20 PM] nrouda: Not just the network fees, but even construction in that example!

[06-04-2009 12:20 PM] zkerravala: Well consolidation is a great value prop for WAN optimization. But it can be used to avoid new data center builds, reduce bandwidth, in some cases you can go from OC3s to DS3s, this can be 8-10K per month, mobile worker productivity can be improved as well

[06-04-2009 12:20 PM] zkerravala: Additionally its a great way to enable business continuiity or at least backup across the wan that actually works

[06-04-2009 12:21 PM] nrouda: We're about twenty minutes in now, so I'll open up the lines to questions from our readers. Fire away!

[06-04-2009 12:21 PM] wangsong2233: Hi nrouda, Riverbed helps in IT consolidation, to make all brance office serverless. Why you use an approach to implement such as printer server as a Virtual Machine in the branch office appliance instead of a centralized printer server approach? Does it means that a distributed server pool is also needed when performance is considered?

[06-04-2009 12:21 PM] nrouda: Ah, you're referring the Riverbed Services Platform.

[06-04-2009 12:21 PM] wangsong2233: Yes.

[06-04-2009 12:21 PM] nrouda: The RSP is useful when branches need local services, but don't want extra hardware.

[06-04-2009 12:22 PM] nrouda: They can use the RSP with VMware to deploy virtual services, like printing.

[06-04-2009 12:22 PM] zkerravala: In my opinion, either way is a viable option though, RSP provides the organization with choice so not ALL services have to be centralized. Deploy the services locally that you want to and centralize the others

[06-04-2009 12:22 PM] nrouda: In your case, it sounds like you're considering if the print server might be centralized anyway.

[06-04-2009 12:23 PM] nrouda: The challenge with a central print server might be a large additional load on the WAN.

[06-04-2009 12:23 PM] nrouda: But if that traffic is also WAN optimized through an appliance, it might be a valid choice.

[06-04-2009 12:23 PM] lynnG: Can you deploy Riverbed as a managed service? eg, for companies who want to pay for the solution using opex on an ongoing basis, vs. one large capital expenditure upfront?

[06-04-2009 12:23 PM] wangsong2233: When more virtual services are added to the RSP, you will have to add more hardware to hold them, just live add more servers, right?

[06-04-2009 12:23 PM] zkerravala: the RSP vision is a great example of how WAN optimization can drive further consolidation in the branch

[06-04-2009 12:24 PM] nrouda: Well, the RSP can support up to 5 virtual servers at once.

[06-04-2009 12:24 PM] nrouda: Taking Lynn's question, yes.

[06-04-2009 12:24 PM] zkerravala: Lynn: WAN optimization can be deployed as a managed service. Almost all of the major network operators offer a managed WAN optimization service today

[06-04-2009 12:24 PM] nrouda: We can deliver Riverbed through Service Providers.

[06-04-2009 12:25 PM] zkerravala: Some are further ahead than others so do your due diligence

[06-04-2009 12:25 PM] itstar: Zeus mentioned Virtualization as another one of the hot trends that he's seeing more and more implentation. We're in the midst of a consolidation and virtualization project at the moment and have realized that concentrating a larger percentage of our systems on a single service makes disaster recovery more crucial. Can WAN optimizaiton help me with both these projects or do I have to implement seperate strategies for each?

[06-04-2009 12:25 PM] nrouda: I guess the advantage of a managed service is less up front capital expense, but the same value.

[06-04-2009 12:26 PM] zkerravala: No you dont. WAN optimization can be used for both. In fact, Ive talked with some companies that couldnt actually do the data replication if they werent using WAN optimization.

[06-04-2009 12:26 PM] nrouda: Well, the same technology from some WAN optimization vendors can address both virtualization and DR concerns.

[06-04-2009 12:26 PM] lynnG: What about disaster recovery? can you use Riverbed to help with that? if so, wouldn't that provide benefits beyond just cost savings?

[06-04-2009 12:26 PM] nrouda: One advantage of Riverbed is that the same data store can optimize traffic for data centers, branches, and mobile workers.

[06-04-2009 12:27 PM] nrouda: Sounds like Lynn is looking for similar benefits as in replication and data protection broadly.

[06-04-2009 12:27 PM] zkerravala: Allianz Global called WAN optimization a "core technology" that can assit in many key IT projects

[06-04-2009 12:28 PM] nrouda: We have about 5-10 more minutes. Other questions from the audience?

[06-04-2009 12:28 PM] zkerravala: yes, there are many benefits beyond cost savings that I articulated. It should be part of everyones disaster recovery plans

[06-04-2009 12:29 PM] wangsong2233: If more applications have to be added to RSP to reduce WAN traffic and improve user experience by reduce repond latency, so you have to add more appliance in branch office, that means a distributed computing platform while maintain centralized control. Do you have other customer have the same consideration?

[06-04-2009 12:30 PM] nrouda: Wangsong, we have a Central Management Console (CMC) that helps with the central control.

[06-04-2009 12:30 PM] lynnG: what sets Riverbed apart from the competition? why would you choose Riverbed vs. another vendor?

[06-04-2009 12:31 PM] nrouda: The CMC gives you the ability to easily scale across wide deployments.

[06-04-2009 12:31 PM] zkerravala: Wangswong, this should be one of your key considerations when evaluating a WAN opptimization solution provider

[06-04-2009 12:31 PM] itstar: Doesn't all of this consolidation and centralization impact user performance when they are out of the office. Won't your traveling executives and mobile workers suddenly be further from their data?

[06-04-2009 12:31 PM] nrouda: And RSP does let you eliminate local servers that must be in the branch for things like DNS, DHCP, security, etc.

[06-04-2009 12:32 PM] nrouda: Hi Lynn, speed, scale, and simplicity are often the key characteristics used to differentiate.

[06-04-2009 12:32 PM] zkerravala: Well, the feedback I have gotten on Riverbed is that it sets up fast, its easy to manage and has some of the best application performance

[06-04-2009 12:32 PM] zkerravala: But you should do your own evaluations in these areas

[06-04-2009 12:33 PM] nrouda: Absolutely, I always encourage customers to test the products head to head in live environments.

[06-04-2009 12:33 PM] zkerravala: Id challenge Riverbed and ask for customer references that are running similar applications to yourself and ask

[06-04-2009 12:33 PM] nrouda: The more comprehensive the test, the better!

[06-04-2009 12:33 PM] nrouda: We'd be happy to provide references to anyone.

[06-04-2009 12:34 PM] nrouda: We take great pride in our many, many customer success stories.

[06-04-2009 12:34 PM] nrouda: Well, we're about out of time.

[06-04-2009 12:34 PM] nrouda: Any closing thoughts, Zeus?

[06-04-2009 12:35 PM] zkerravala: yes, Ive seen many companies deploy WAN optimization for many purposes. We discussed some of them today. I beleive that WAN optimization needs to be a core technology and considered in larger technology initiatives as it can provide value to many of them

[06-04-2009 12:36 PM] zkerravala: companies will complete more projects, faster with WAN optization technology in place

[06-04-2009 12:36 PM] nrouda: Nice wrap up! I'd like to thank all our audience, and of course, Zeus for taking the time to share his perspective.

[06-04-2009 12:36 PM] nrouda: Be sure to join the Riverbed community for discussions like this every day.

[06-04-2009 12:36 PM] zkerravala: thank you, it was fun

[06-04-2009 12:37 PM] nrouda: And get in touch, we'd love to hear you thoughts and answer any other questions!

[06-04-2009 12:37 PM] nrouda: Thank you, this concludes our live chat for today!

[06-04-2009 12:37 PM] nrouda: Happy trails...