Peak performance

Players such as Cisco, Citrix Systems, F5 Networks and Juniper all snapped up smaller WAN optimisation and application acceleration outfits this year, part of the flurry of acquisitions, startup launches, channel program introductions and product announcements in recent months.

By completing the training and testing built into Juniper’s new Application Acceleration specialisation, partners can achieve certification to sell the WAN optimisation appliances Juniper gained through its July acquisition of Peribit Networks and the application acceleration appliance family it added through its purchase of Redline Networks in May. Juniper has rechristened the products as its WAN Acceleration (WX) and Data Center Acceleration (DX) platforms.

The new specialisation ushers around 150 worldwide partners inherited through the acquisitions into the Juniper fold.

Cisco’s new acceleration appliances, meanwhile, are based on technology picked up through its acquisitions of FineGround Networks in June and Actona Technologies last year, as well as internal development, says George Kurian, vice-president and general manger of the Application Delivery Business Unit at Cisco.

"We don’t make business unit decisions lightly, as you can imagine, so it clearly indicates that Cisco is taking an aggressive posture about a market and an aggressive posture about a set of market opportunities and competitors," he says.

"It clearly signals the intent for an aggressive set of product cycles and market-shaping activities." Cisco is recruiting partners for its application acceleration solutions. Kurian says many networking partners already have mature applications practices as well. Products coming out of the new unit will aim to bridge the two.

Australian WAN optimisation player Exinda Networks has had great success with its Optimiser WAN optimisation appliance, experiencing growth rates of up to 120 percent per annum last year. "Companies in this space are being valued at 10 times their revenue," says Con Nikolouzakis, executive director at Exinda. Two things need to happen for resellers and end users to understand the technology: resale education and creating end user demand, he says. "We’re just starting to see a lot of drive from the end users."