Riverbed announces version 4.0 of RiOS, the Riverbed Optimization System for Steelhead appliances. RiOS 4.0 enables the acceleration of SSL traffic; adds new improvements for HTTP traffic, and enhances the ability of Steelhead appliances to accelerate traffic on high-bandwidth high-latency WAN links even in the face of high packet loss.
With these important new features, Riverbed further extends its lead in the WAN optimization market. Any Steelhead appliance can be upgraded to RiOS to take advantage of these important new capabilities.
Key New Features in RiOS 4.0
- Accelerate encrypted (SSL) traffic
- Improved HTTP performance
- New HTTPS acceleration
- Improved support for high bandwidth WAN links
Security Improvements
Network Integration Improvements
Management and Reporting Improvements
Steelhead appliances now accelerate encrypted (SSL) traffic, using all of Riverbed's algorithms to deliver LAN-like performance for those key business applications. Until now there was no way to safely improve the performance or responsiveness of SSL WAN traffic other than off-loading it using Application Front End (AFE) or other "SSL Offload" products. While those solutions are still appropriate to help scale SSL application deployments, they don't offer the dramatic acceleration that Riverbed customers are accustomed to with their non-encrypted applications.
Riverbed is the first company to introduce true SSL acceleration (not SSL off-load) that does not require the distribution of certificates or private keys to the edge, yet does enable SSL traffic to be decrypted, optimized, and then re-encrypted before moving onto the WAN. When traffic reaches the other side of the network, the same process is repeated: decryption, decoding (the other side of the Riverbed optimization algorithm), and then re-encryption for delivery to the client. These optimizations are bi-directional ensuring that all traffic is encrypted end-to-end from client to server, to or from branch offices.
Some other symmetric application acceleration solutions may claim to accelerate encrypted traffic, but they require the distribution of certificates or private keys to the branch office, which introduces significant security vulnerabilities, and is not acceptable to most IT architects.
MX-TCP: Additional Performance Gains for High Bandwidth "Long Fat Networks"
Riverbed now offers MX-TCP to maximize all available bandwidth on high bandwidth links. For customers who want the maximum performance under congested conditions or links with packet loss, MX-TCP is the perfect solution. MX-TCP is optional and, when activated, will utilize 100% of a given amount of bandwidth, which minimizes the time to complete a given job. The bandwidth limit is configurable by an administrator, and can be set to use the whole link or a portion of a link. MX-TCP is available on all Steelhead appliance models.
While Riverbed has long supported an important feature for high bandwidth WAN links called high speed TCP (HS-TCP) as an option on the larger Steelhead appliances, there are some conditions under which even HS-TCP is not sufficient. HS-TCP is a feature to help "fill the pipe" when high latency prevented full utilization of available bandwidth. While HS-TCP is very effective for most high-latency, high-bandwidth links (sometimes referred to as "Long Fat Networks" or LFNs), HS-TCP is still designed to back off in the face of congestion or packet loss. HS-TCP is also now available on all models as well.
RiOS 4.0 adds additional HTTP acceleration capabilities: RiOS now includes a specialized learning algorithm that allows it to learn the objects requested in pages and perform object pre-fetching, accelerating all objects in parallel. These optimizations work for all HTTP and HTTPS applications, including CRM, ERP, financials, document management, intranet portals, and more.
Combining its new capabilities of accelerating SSL-encrypted traffic with its powerfully enhanced HTTP Application Streamlining, RiOS 4.0 now can also accelerate HTTPS traffic. Enterprises that encrypt web-based applications with SSL can now expect the powerful acceleration capabilities for HTTPS that they already have for HTTP
Only approved Steelhead appliances can connect with the CMC to download configurations, which improves the security of Riverbed deployments.
Building on Riverbed's patented auto-discovery functionality, Steelhead appliances can now auto-discover (also known as "auto-peer") even in multi-hop environments. They do this by bypassing any intermediary Steelhead appliances automatically. Enhancements to Auto-Discovery also simplifies configuration and makes deployments more scalable.
Enhanced Active-Active Failover
Serial in-path devices can now automatically keep all data-stores fully synchronized at all times. This provides for failover without performance loss as well as overflow capacity.
RiOS provides an easy-to-use interface that manages server SSL certificates and Steelhead SSL certificates.
RiOS allows administrators to easily configure a maximum usable bandwidth for MX-TCP.
RiOS builds on the 3.0 release of QoS by adding new tuning capabilities, providing an easier management interface, and enhancing QoS reporting.
WAN optimization for your network: Application acceleration, WAN bandwidth optimization, and IT consolidation
