Riverbed WAN Optimization Solution Qualified by EMC

Riverbed Technology has obtained EMC qualification for its Steelhead appliances, which allows companies to accelerate disaster recovery processes while reducing overall IT costs, to work with Symmetrix Remote Data Facility/Asynchronous product (SRDF/A). SRDF is EMC’s business continuity solution that provides a host-independent, mirrored data storage solution for duplicating production site data to one or more physically separated Symmetrix enterprise storage systems. EMC E-Lab qualification means that joint customers can now deploy Riverbed’s wide area network (WAN) optimization solutions deep into their largest data centers with confidence.

Due to the importance of data protection, disaster recovery and business continuity continue to be a level investment for enterprises. In addition to achieving EMC E-Lab qualification, Riverbed continues to meet the needs of the enterprise by adding new features and capabilities to its core product offerings. Most recently, in its release of RiOS 5.5, Riverbed announced enhanced disaster recovery features that allow faster replication while utilizing less WAN bandwidth. EMC E-Lab qualification means that enterprises can now take advantage of Riverbed for accelerated datacenter-to-datacenter replication.

Steelhead Appliances Accelerate
SAN to SAN Data Replication across the WAN
To provide maximum protection and ease of management, many enterprises use EMC SRDF/A to replicate data from one SAN (storage area network) to another across a WAN link. Steelhead appliances can remove a huge amount of repetitive data from the WAN during SRDF/A operations, and dramatically reduce bandwidth requirements associated with protecting more data. Test results have shown that Steelhead appliances speed up disaster recovery processes by as much as 5x – 8x times across a WAN.

"With optimization products like Riverbed’s in place for faster data protection, organizations can dramatically reduce their recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO)," said Jon Oltsik, Principal Analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. "By selecting qualified interoperable solutions, organizations are assured more reliable data protection, dramatic cost reductions associated with backup and replication and streamlined IT operations. When developing a disaster recovery strategy, enterprises — especially those with large data centers — would greatly benefit from combining best-of-breed solutions like EMC SRDF/A and Riverbed WAN optimization."

"Through ongoing product development and testing we’re continuing to create solutions that address the challenges enterprises encounter during disaster recovery operations. Obtaining EMC E-Lab qualification provides assurance to our customers that they can take advantage of our market-leading WAN optimization solutions," said Alan Saldich, vice president of product marketing and alliances at Riverbed. "We will use this opportunity to extend our market-leading solution to enterprises with large data centers and strategic disaster recovery initiatives."