It depends on your needs: does it solve a high-profile problem? Our reason for looking was to improve performance for certain users when saving large (20 - 100MB) Excel files across a low latency 100Mbps ethernet WAN.
We performed a 1-month P.O.C. with the Steelhead. After some fine-tuning, we were achieving a maximum of 600Mbps through a 100Mbps ethernet WAN. It did not solve the Excel issue. I figured it wouldn't - a terminal server did however. Also, if you're looking for pushing more data through a smaller line, weighing the price of the appliance to the cost of upgrading your line - there is a bit of a sticker shock with the appliances. That said however, I liked the Riverbed product. Set and forget. From: Tom Miller [mailto:tmil...@hnncsb.org] Sent: Monday, April 12, 2010 8:00 AM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Riverbed Steelhead appliances v. Cisco WAAS v. Citrix Branch repeater Hi Folks, I'm looking at these products. Any comments, suggestions, recommendations? Citrix claims the branch repeater is in part designed to accelerate/optimize ICA traffic (we plan to deploy Citrix XenDesktop over the next 12 months if the pilot is successful). Not that Cisco and Riverbed products can't do the same. I have not used any of the above and would welcome your comments on management, ease of use, and does it work as it is claimed to work (would you buy it again)? Tom Miller Engineer, Information Technology Hampton-Newport News Community Services Board 757-788-0528 Confidentiality Notice: This e-mail message, including attachments, is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure, or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply e-mail and destroy all copies of the original message. ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~
