WAN Optimization

A informative and useful article on WAN optimisation that I came across at:

http://www.focus.com/articles/networking/what-wan-optimization-and-how-can-it-help-you/

WAN optimization uses appliances located in a company's different sites. Suppliers range from smaller vendors like Blue Coat Systems, Citrix Systems, and Riverbed Technology to large manufacturers like Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks. The appliances use a number of techniques to process the IP traffic traveling between the sites over the company's WAN. The techniques cut the bandwidth needed and increase the speed and responsiveness of the connection. This brings numerous benefits, from slashing the cost of inter-branch communication to improving its effectiveness in various ways. The combination often lets companies work in ways that would otherwise be impossible. Not all solutions, however, use all of the techniques, so it's necessary to confirm with vendors just what their appliances can and cannot do.