Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Latest News
    • Networking

    Steelhead 500 Revs WAN Links

    By
    Henry Baltazar
    -
    April 12, 2004
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Riverbed Technology Inc.s Steelhead appliances use caching, compression and protocol optimization to speed application performance over WAN links.

      Click here to read the full review of Steelhead 500.

      2

      Riverbed Technology Inc.s Steelhead appliances use caching, compression and protocol optimization to speed application performance over WAN links.

      A caching-appliance-based approach can prevent some of the performance headaches usually associated with expanding operations. IT managers often deal with these problems by throwing more bandwidth at them.

      /zimages/6/28571.gifClick here to read a case study of an engineering firm that used Steelhead appliances to manage problems associated with expanding its business.

      Unfortunately, given the large amounts of latency that chatty protocols such as CIFS (Common Internet File System) create, a bigger pipe doesnt necessarily help application performance.

      Enter the Steelheads, which will ship this month. The appliances range in size and price from the Steelhead 500, which contains 40GB of cache space and costs $5,995, to the Steelhead 5000, which is priced at $39,995 and stores 512GB of cache. We tested only the Steelhead 500.

      Like most caching devices that eWEEK Labs has seen (including Tacit Networks Inc.s I-shared cache server, among others), the Steelhead appliances cache data transmitted over the WAN into local appliances.

      The Steelhead devices are useful for companies that want to centralize data for simpler management and ease of user access. With Steelhead appliances in place, data can be centralized at the home office while remote offices can access data using local devices.

      In tests, we were impressed with the Steelhead 500 appliances ability to speed user access to CIFS file shares, FTP and Microsoft Corp.s Exchange, although it currently doesnt accelerate NFS (Network File System).

      In contrast, Tacit Networks solution accelerates only file-serving protocols such as CIFS and NFS.

      /zimages/6/28571.gifClick here to read eWEEK Labs comparison of Tacits cache server, Network Appliance Inc.s FAS900 and Rainfinity Inc.s RainStorage appliances.

      For our testing, we used two Steelhead 500s with a WAN simulator sitting between them. The client sat on one side of the WAN; the server sat on the other. Throughout the tests, we noted that with a warm data cache (one where data has been segmented and sent once over the WAN), access to remote files was comparable to LAN speeds.

      Even in cases where the cache was not warm, we saw a slight increase in performance. This new speed can be attributed to the compression that the Riverbed appliances perform before sending data over a WAN.

      The Steelhead appliances analyze and segment data and use proprietary algorithms to recognize and accelerate transactions. When a user needs to access a remote file, the Steelhead appliance closest to the user serves up the file locally at LAN speeds.

      The Steelhead devices act as TCP proxies, and this ability lets them repack frames to make them more efficient.

      With this optimization, it is possible to expedite protocols such as HTTP and FTP because frame optimization reduces the amount of trips across the WAN that are necessary for each transaction.

      Because the Steelhead appliance stores data as segments, instead of just as files, a user can easily rename and alter parts of large files on a remotely accessed file without forcing the entire file to be sent over the WAN.

      The algorithms built into the Steelhead appliances analyze segment requests to see which data can be served locally to a user. However, the appliances have a finite amount of cache storage, so they will not be as helpful for compute-intensive organizations such as movie production houses, biotechnology companies and research centers, which routinely create large amounts of unique data.

      The Steelhead appliance easily accelerates access to remotely stored CAD files, spreadsheets and other large documents, which should make it a popular purchase in branch office environments.

      The NICs in the Steelhead device have pass-through capabilities, which let data move transparently through the device in the event of a hardware failure. Even with the device turned off, data continued to flow through to the WAN in our tests.

      Senior Analyst Henry Baltazar can be reached at henry_baltazar@ziffdavis.com.

      /zimages/6/28571.gifCheck out eWEEK.coms Storage Center at http://storage.eweek.com for the latest news, views and analysis on enterprise and business storage hardware and software.
      Be sure to add our eWEEK.com storage news feed to your RSS newsreader or My Yahoo page: http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/my/addtomyyahoo2.gif

      Henry Baltazar
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×