WAN Optimization - Time to clear up the FUD out there

FUD = Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt

As I write this blog post there are 100s of IT people being "enlightened" about the advantages of using WAN optimization and application acceleration by their local Cisco rep. The 800 pound gorilla is on another mission to convince every IT manager, director and CIO that they have the best solution because....why else....they are Cisco!

I can certainly appreciate their efforts as Cisco offers a lot of great products in the world of networking. I have been a big fan of Cisco and their products for many years. I've been a Cisco engineer for more than 7 years. During that time I have had the opportunity to work with and install a whole slew of Cisco products, from Cisco 2500 series routers to Cisco MARS appliances more recently. Working for a Cisco integrator for 8 years has given me the ability to work in a lot of environments and deploy a wide range of solutions.

Cisco's push into the WAN optimization arena is like deja vu. Reminds me of 1998 and 1999 when Cisco first began selling AVVID voice over IP solutions. It was certainly an exciting time and VoIP was the next killer app to change the world. Ha ha....Those were the days....I digress.
Cisco was very new to the voice world and they gave away the technology to big accounts so they could write lavish stories about how Cisco AVVID changed the lives of employees and gave them the ability to order pizza on the 4x4 green screen of their fancy Cisco IP phone. I know it sounds ridiculous but I'm not far off from the claims they were making. Those of us engineers that had evaluated the AVVID solution knew that these stories were clearly FUD. On the street, the new AVVID solution was bug ridden and it took armies of engineers to get the solution to work....sort of. Many new stories began to emerge about large companies ripping out millions of dollars worth of AVVID VoIP gear because Cisco couldn't make it work.

Let's bring it to the present day and get back to my original point of this dang post. Here we are at the end of 2007 and according to the reports (InfoPro, etc) Cisco owns the VoIP market and has finally resolved all of the issues that were creating havoc back in the day. Avaya, Nortel, and other players are getting their butts kicked in the VoIP arena by Cisco.

And a new era begins.......Cisco's entry into the WAN optimization / application acceleration arena is very similar to those days in 1999. Cisco is new to the game and trying to quickly build a solution via multiple acquisitions and integration into their routers. As with the AVVID days Cisco is making a huge marketing push and trying to give away the technology into big accounts to begin their never ending story writing about how their solution saved the lives of 1000's of employees across the enterprise.

What we have found is that in the real world Cisco is getting their butt kicked by the first to market competitor Riverbed. Riverbed has been in the WAN optimization game for about 4 years now and has mastered the art of application acceleration....and it is definitely an art. We decided to partner with Riverbed because we saw that Cisco WAAS was no where near developed as the Riverbed Steelhead appliances. We have always focused on offering our customers "best of breed" solutions and we believe, along with most of the world, that Riverbed is the best solution for WAN optimization and application acceleration.

Cisco will eventually get it together but they are about 2 years behind Riverbed from a technology perspective in my opinion. Riverbed recently made it even tougher on Cisco with their release of the Steelhead Mobile Client. It's a great solution for mobile workers and small branch offices. It essentially allows you to install the Steelhead RiOS software that runs on their appliances on your laptop or PC. That software talks to a mobile controller at the host location and accelerates applications between the laptop or PC and the host location. This is a major breakthrough for the mobile worker. We have many customers that previously weren't considering WAN accelerator devices until Riverbed released the Steelhead Mobile solution.

As Cisco continues to clean up their WAAS solution to work seamlessly in a router, they are being left behind by Riverbed and their continued innovation in this arena. As of the end of October, Riverbed will be releasing RiOS 4.1. Oracle acceleration is one of the key additions in this release. Cisco continues to down play the need for a wan acceleration client while the market place raves about Riverbed's client. I guess if you drink enough Cisco kool-aid you will believe that it's insignificant also.

Most IT personnel are smart enough to seek out the top competitors when Cisco comes a knockin' with a new solution to sell them. This is giving Riverbed more opportunities to shine, as most IT departments are opting to have a bake off between the various competitors before they commit to making a purchase. We'll see how things play out. If Cisco can improve their product and innovate beyond Riverbed's capabilities, I will be the first one to commend them and recommend their solution. Let the battle continue.

More Cisco FUD to come......Stay tuned!

Please be sure to check out the Gartner report, Forrester report, and competitive information via the links on the right. Also, if would like to see TheInfoPro report just post a comment and I'll be happy to send it to you.