Citrix Systems has announced the availability of a new software-based WAN optimisation client that extends LAN-like application performance to mobile employees, even when they are working outside of branch office locations.
Citrix will also demonstrate the new Citrix WANScaler client working seamlessly with its market-leading Citrix Access Gateway SSL VPN solution at Interop Las Vegas 2007 this week, eliminating the traditional trade-off between fast application performance and secure application access for mobile employees.
The new release is an integral part of Citrix's comprehensive application delivery infrastructure strategy, enabling customers to deliver any application to any user with the best performance, security and cost savings.
Industry analysts estimate that 55% of corporate employees now access all of their applications while working out of a branch office, and up to 90% need regular access to applications from home or while travelling. As a result, enterprises are increasingly demanding application delivery solutions that can extend the performance and security benefits of the LAN to all application users, regardless of their location.
Many organisations have begun addressing this problem with WAN optimisation appliances like WANScaler that can dramatically increase the speed at which applications are delivered to branch office employees by overcoming WAN-induced performance obstacles.
Once users step out of the branch office, however, they no longer benefit from WAN optimisation appliances. With today's announcement, Citrix takes a significant step toward addressing these broader enterprise needs by offering WANScaler as both an appliance installed at each branch office, as well as a software client installed on each user's PC. This unique combination extends the benefits of WAN optimisation outside the branch, enabling mobile users to access applications from wherever they choose to work without the traditional performance penalty of "remote access".
"IT is increasingly tasked with the sometimes conflicting goal of providing efficiency and security improvements as well as driving top line revenue growth," said Lucinda Borovick, program director, data centre networks, IDC.
"As a result, they are evaluating products based on their ability to support a market basket of requirements including: seamless, fast, predictable access to applications; working within the company security framework; and supporting an increasingly mobile workforce. WAN Application Delivery vendors who provide a strategic solution that ensures no trade-offs have to be made around these key business requirements will emerge as the leaders."
Extending the WAN beyond the office walls
The new Citrix WANScaler client offers a transparent software installation that sits right on a user's desktop - or even home computer - enabling them to experience the advantages of WAN optimisation from anywhere. The WANScaler client dynamically self-tunes for optimal performance based on real-time network conditions and incorporates features previously available only in the Citrix WANScaler appliance, such as industry-leading compression, multiple protocol optimisations and advanced TCP acceleration.
"The availability of the new WANScaler client will make it easier to extend the benefits of WANScaler to our application users, whether they are accessing the network from home, working in one of our global offices or checking in during vacation," said Robert Rice, Director of Network and Security Operations, NCsoft Corporation.
"As a result, our employees are more satisfied and productive, and IT receives fewer support calls. Citrix has really made WAN optimisation flexible to any environment."
Eliminating security trade-offs
As WAN optimisation solutions extend to mobile users, they face a second challenge of interoperating with secure application access solutions like SSL VPNs. When an SSL VPN encrypts a user session, most WAN optimisation technologies fail to work properly because they cannot optimise the encrypted traffic. The new WANScaler client is the first in the industry to address this challenge by interoperating with Citrix's market-leading Access Gateway SSL VPN client, ensuring that mobile employees experience both fast and secure application access when using the two solutions together.
The interoperability between Citrix's WANScaler and Access Gateway clients will be demonstrated live at Interop Las Vegas in the Citrix booth (#725), enabling attendees to see the full benefits that can be realised by this technology coupling.
Raising the bar in application delivery
An integral part of Citrix's end-to-end application delivery infrastructure, WANScaler extends the LAN-like performance of business-critical applications to mobile and branch office users.
In addition to the new WANScaler client, Citrix announced several important new capabilities to its WANScaler appliance line. These include enhanced quality of service (QoS) features that preserve and protect response times for highly interactive applications, enhanced ease-of-use, and expanded network interface capabilities to support complex enterprise networking environments. In addition, enhanced reporting capabilities will allow more granular application performance statistics and trending information to enable more strategic troubleshooting in the WAN.
"As work environments evolve and become more user-centric versus location-based, the application delivery infrastructure cannot just meet the challenges of the traditional LAN and WAN - it needs to extend to anyone, anywhere," said Klaus Oestermann, vice-president and general manager, Application Networking Group, Citrix Systems.
"While data centre consolidation yields clear cost savings to organisations, application users must be guaranteed a consistent user experience regardless of where they choose to work. Citrix WANScaler maintains application performance, and with Access Gateway enables secure application delivery to mobile users."
Pricing and availability
The WANScaler client will be commercially available in June. Worldwide availability is expected in Q3. WANScaler Client's suggested retail pricing varies, depending on the size of the deployment.
Share
Citrix WANScaler solutions accelerate the delivery of applications to branch offices, data centres and mobile workers, over wide area networks (WANs) by 5x to 30x. Citrix WANScaler is a completely transparent, end-to-end solution for all IP-based WANs, eliminating the need for any changes to current network management tools, firewalls, network services or applications. The solution delivers increased WAN throughput and improved application response times for all applications, supporting hundreds of branch offices and WAN throughput up to 500Mbps.
Citrix Access Gateway
Citrix Access Gateway is the only SSL VPN to securely deliver any application with policy-based SmartAccess control. Users will have easy-to-use secure access to all of the enterprise applications and data they need to be productive and IT can cost effectively extend access to applications while maintaining security through SmartAccess application-level policies. With Access Gateway organisations are empowered to cost effectively meet the anywhere access demands of all workers - enabling flexible work options, easier outsourcing and non-employee access, and business continuity readiness - while ensuring the highest-level of information security.
Citrix
Citrix Systems, Inc (Nasdaq:CTXS) is the global leader and the most trusted name in application delivery infrastructure. More than 180 000 organisations worldwide rely on Citrix to deliver any application to users anywhere with the best performance, highest security and lowest cost. Citrix customers include 100% of the Fortune 100 companies and 98% of the Fortune Global 500, as well as hundreds of thousands of small businesses and prosumers. Citrix has approximately 6 200 channel and alliance partners in more than 100 countries. Annual revenue in 2006 was $1.1 billion.