Why WAN Optimization Is More Important Than Ever For Businesses

Businesses are in a competitive global market and require a network that is efficient, reliable, and available. WAN optimization appliances address these needs by managing the flow of network traffic and providing mechanisms to avert Internet outages that disrupt user productivity and costs businesses. With an increasing number of businesses taking advantage of software as a service (SaaS) and cloud services access to resources is increasingly dependent on access to the Internet.

Improving user experience
By efficiently controlling traffic flow over multiple WAN links, the impact of network congestion and outages are mitigated. Continuous testing allows the optimization appliance detect when a link is down and automatically redirects traffic to a healthy link. The load balancing and failover features provide a seamless transition for users and ensure continued application availability and uninterrupted Internet access.

Applications perform better
Quality of Service (QoS) enables the prioritization of network traffic and manages the flow of data so critical services receive the appropriate amount of bandwidth for their needs. The appliance can do more than adjusting how traffic is handled via QoS, tests determine latency and packet loss over paths. This allows failover from a poorly performing link to a healthy one for cloud services, SaaS providers, and offsite applications.

Voice over IP (VoIP) is a critical application used by many businesses that is sensitive to link delays or failures. With the use of an optimization appliance, VoIP calls are never dropped as they are moved from a failed or poorly performing link to a healthy one without call interruption or user intervention. Diagnostic information can also be provided, such as the mean opinion score (MOS), latency, packet loss, and call tracing.

Disaster Recovery
WAN optimization appliances provide additional features that focus on redirecting incoming connections to ensure external users have continuous access to hosted services. By testing active servers for response for each service, traffic can be re-routed in the event of failure. The backup server can be located locally or at a colo facility off-site. The appliance can also detect when an entire site becomes inaccessible and move inbound traffic to a disaster recovery facility.

As technology continues to evolve and businesses transition more resources from the local network to the cloud, access to vital resources hinge on reliable access to the Internet. Businesses will find WAN optimization appliances can produce an immediate impact on productivity by controlling traffic flow, eliminating downtime, and providing continuous service for applications.

This post is contributed by: Gerald