SmartAcceleration Technology Gives Organizations Unparalleled Visibility and Control Over Networks and Services – Desktops, Apps, Multimedia and More

Citrix Systems, Inc. today announced Branch Repeater™ 6, a market-leading wide-area network (WAN) optimization solution that offers unique SmartAcceleration technology to transform WAN optimization from a network-centric infrastructure to a service-centric solution.  As a result, branch office users can enjoy a brilliantly fast experience for the increasing range of services delivered from both public and private clouds, including virtual desktops and apps, web and Windows apps, multi-media, voice, video and more. At the same time, IT can now prioritize these optimizations by user or service, reducing costs and giving them far more control.

The explosive new trends in consumerization, mobility, desktop virtualization and cloud computing are driving the transformation of network-centric WAN optimization technologies into service-centric solutions.  As companies witness paradigm shifts in virtual computing, cloud computing, mobility and video, the way information is created and where it is consumed are fundamentally changing.  Network traffic is exploding with a mix of traffic, originating from different sources – datacenters, cloud and branch offices – and delivered to a variety of devices used by mobile, remote and branch office workers. These trends require a new and holistic approach to optimizing and accelerating the delivery of all services regardless of where they are delivered from and where the users are located, going beyond network-centric optimizations to a service-centric optimization era.

 

Facts and Highlights

The new SmartAcceleration technology in Branch Repeater 6 enables several key benefits:

 

• Prioritize by User or Service: SmartAcceleration technology provides intelligent and adaptive mechanisms to guarantee quality of service (QoS) and experience (QoE) by enabling IT with a set of tools for holistic service delivery management:  these tools assess network traffic patterns and usage, classify apps and services traffic, control bandwidth consumption and protect delay-sensitive apps using granular policies, monitor network congestion and delays affecting user experience, and remediate those problems quickly to minimize support calls. SmartAcceleration enables IT with the flexibility to classify and prioritize optimizations by application location, branch location, user location, user groups, application type, protocol, traffic direction, and more.

   

• Deep Visibility: Smart Acceleration offers unique, deep visibility and control across a broad range of services – more than 500 apps and protocols.  This control includes, but is not limited to, native and virtual apps and desktops, audio, video, Microsoft apps, web apps and more.

   

• User-centric Virtual Desktop Prioritization: SmartAcceleration is the first and only technology able to prioritize virtual desktops and apps by user groups, allowing IT to accelerate the delivery differently for different user groups, determined by their business policies.

   

• Faster Encrypted Email and File Transfers: Layer 7 optimizations are supported including Microsoft email (Encrypted MAPI & Exchange 2010) and Microsoft file servers (SMBv2, Signed SMB v1/v2).

Quotes

Jim Frey, Managing Research Director, Enterprise Management Associates (EMA)
“Cloud, virtualization and smarter mobile devices are pushing the network outside the traditional branch office and extending it beyond traditional LAN/WAN boundaries.  The challenge for IT departments is to find ways to deliver applications to end users wherever they are and however they are accessing their data.  The problem is that corporate network bandwidth is not infinite.  The more fine-tuned control that IT departments can obtain over their application delivery, especially on the WAN links, the better they will be able to ensure the end users they support will get efficient and effective access to the applications and services they need most.  Citrix is taking their WAN optimization solution, Branch Repeater, and continuing to build it into the fabric of an overall application delivery solution, making it easier for IT departments to meet the growing demands of the new virtual work environment.”

Troy Trenchard, Group Vice President and General Manager, Security and Acceleration Product Group, Citrix Systems, Inc.
“Consumerization, mobility and cloud computing continue to drive the industry to evolve network-centric optimization technologies from the PC era to a service-centric optimization architecture of the Cloud era.  Branch Repeater 6, with new SmartAcceleration technologies, facilitates IT’s journey from the PC era to the Cloud era, enabling IT teams to bring hi-def desktops, apps and multi-media to millions of branch office users.”