Riverbed Accelerates Military Satellite Networks

Riverbed Technology announced a new offering that helps government enterprises achieve greater application performance across satellite wide area networks (WANs) while maintaining SCPS (Space Communication Protocol Standards) interoperability. By implementing a SCPS-enabled Steelhead appliance government enterprises have timely and secure access to mission-critical information. Riverbed leverages Global Protocols’ SkipWare SCPS solution to run on the Riverbed Services Platform.

Military satellite communications are subjected to a harsh array of environmental and operational conditions that can drastically impair the performance of the network. While satellite enables mobility, bandwidth efficiency is reduced by weather effects, interference, blockage and high-bandwidth-delay products degrading throughput and jeopardizing mission-critical communications. SCPS is a protocol solution that military organizations throughout the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) rely on to overcome challenges associated with satellite WANs and deliver a reliable satellite communications connection in support of military missions, regardless of the operating conditions. To date, military forces have found that many WAN optimization solutions are not SCPS-compliant and therefore lack the degree of interoperability desired by all military customers. At the same time many standalone SCPS implementations are limited in acceleration capabilities.

Riverbed now offers military forces the best of both worlds with the award-winning WAN acceleration capabilities of Steelhead appliances alongside best of breed SCPS functionality from Global Protocols.

"Government enterprises within the federal market, like many commercial enterprises, are constantly looking for opportunities to leverage the investment they’ve made in core technologies. This mission-critical solution specifically addresses pain points within the federal market as organizations look to comply with industry protocols without hindering mission productivity," said William Hartwell, general manager and senior director of Federal Markets Divisions at Riverbed. "The combined offering provides best-of-breed solutions – from Riverbed and Global Protocols – both of which have proven solutions within government enterprises spanning Homeland Security, DoD and the Intelligence community."

Accelerating Military Satellite WANs
with Riverbed Services Platform
Global Protocols’ SCPS protocol solution, SkipWare, is delivered as a software package on the Riverbed Services Platform (RSP). The RSP is an enterprise-class platform that enables a drastic reduction in an enterprise’s IT footprint by running up to five third-party software modules at one time – without the need for separate dedicated servers. Agencies benefit from further consolidation of their IT infrastructure at the branch and even greater ROI on their Steelhead appliance investment.

"We are very pleased to see SkipWare run on Steelhead appliances," said Global Protocols’ VP of Business Development Nick Yuran. "We see it as further validation of our position in the satellite industry that a market leader such as Riverbed would choose SkipWare as its standard SCPS implementation. We look forward to the market opportunities presented by coupling SkipWare and the Steelhead appliances, and the impact we will have together within not only the federal market, but within all enterprises that utilize satellite networking for critical communication."

By taking advantage of a SCPS-enabled Steelhead appliance, users can now:

Achieve comprehensive, cross–layer optimization without sacrificing standards compliance or interoperability, seamlessly linking multiple vendor technologies across different military satellite communication networks.
Experience optimized connectivity to the STEP and Teleport systems, optimized connectivity with any SkipWare-based military network, and full interoperability with any other SCPS-based network.
Take advantage of hybrid functionality, which allows customers to use either Riverbed optimization technology, SkipWare for SCPS-TP, or both as required, enabling military customers a greater degree of flexibility in how they deploy Riverbed appliances.
Leverage powerful functionality in one box, eliminating the need for multiple in-line appliances in the field and the need to engage multiple support channels for troubleshooting.

Military organizations will experience the following benefits from implementing a SCPS-enabled Steelhead appliance: