Science & Technology
Science and Technology
Science and Technology
Tue, December 9, 2008
Mon, December 8, 2008
Riverbed Technology: Global Clothing Store Deploys Riverbed Steelhead Appliances
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - December 8, 2008) - Riverbed Technology (
The Steelhead appliances have slashed global wide area network (WAN) traffic, dramatically improved the application performance experienced at Pumpkin Patch's UK and US offices, and thereby significantly improved staff productivity.
Established in 1991 in New Zealand, Pumpkin Patch is one of the leading children's fashion companies in Australasia. Employing more than 3,000 people, the organization has a presence in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, the US, Asia, and the Middle East.
Leeann McCallum, Pumpkin Patch's Communications Manager, says the company employs a centralized IT architecture, where all applications and data are hosted in New Zealand. While simple, cost-effective and secure, this architecture unfortunately meant all users outside New Zealand were at the mercy of slow WAN application performance. Users often complained of terrible performance when using basic applications such as email and the corporate intranet.
At first, Pumpkin Patch looked at re-architecting its network and employing a more distributed architecture for its business systems. But, following a cost-benefit analysis, the company realized a better solution was available -- they could retain the benefits of their existing centralized architecture and speed up application performance across the WAN by the use of WAN optimization. McCallum says that selecting Riverbed was an easy choice.
"We had only ever heard good things about Riverbed," says McCallum. "The fact that the vendor offered us a live network trial of the Steelhead appliances before purchase was also very compelling -- our end users saw the benefits immediately."
In March, Pumpkin Patch began a three-month trial of the Steelhead appliances, during which application response time dramatically increased, with users in the UK and the US seeing increases of 56 percent and 60 percent, respectively.
"In fact, when we turned off the devices at the end of the pilot, the users were all screaming at us to turn them back on," McCallum recalls. "This was a real example of how successful the Steelhead appliances were and proved we could reap significant business benefits from the implementation."
Together with system integrator Datacraft, Riverbed coordinated both the pilot and the actual implementation, which was rolled out in June. According to McCallum, the Steelhead appliances were so easy to set up and install that non-IT personnel in the UK and US offices installed the devices themselves.
"We pre-configured and tested the appliances here, then sent them over to the regional offices with photos of how the devices should be connected," she explains. "The actual installation process was so easy that we could just get someone onsite to plug them in. We could see the devices start working immediately. This simplicity saved us a lot of time and real money in IT staff and support costs."
"We're very pleased with the whole process and outcome," continues McCallum. "Datacraft was an excellent integration partner and Riverbed was very helpful in device setup and configuration during the pilot."
McCallum also praises the Riverbed Central Management Console, which she says is extremely useful for both Steelhead appliance configuration and as a central reporting tool.
"From a management perspective, the Central Management Console is an effective way to keep tabs on how the Steelhead appliances are performing and the level and type of traffic travelling across the WAN."
Due to the success of the project to date, Pumpkin Patch is also considering other products from Riverbed, such as the Steelhead Mobile client software for remote and travelling users.
Steelhead Products
Riverbed solutions enable organizations of all sizes to overcome a host of severe problems, including poor application performance and insufficient bandwidth at remote sites. By speeding the performance of applications between data centers, remote offices and mobile workers by five to 50 times and in some cases up to 100 times, Riverbed's award-winning Steelhead products enable companies to consolidate IT, improve backup and replication processes to ensure data integrity, and improve staff productivity and collaboration. Steelhead products have been deployed in organizations ranging from the world's largest corporations with offices around the globe to small companies with a couple of sites that are just miles apart. To learn more, view Riverbed's demo: [ www.riverbed.com/pr/jack ].
Forward Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements relating to the expected demand for Riverbed's products and services, and statements relating to Riverbed's ability to meet the needs of distributed organizations. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they do not fully materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. The risks and uncertainties that could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements include our ability to react to trends and challenges in our business and the markets in which we operate; our ability to anticipate market needs or develop new or enhanced products to meet those needs; the adoption rate of our products; our ability to establish and maintain successful relationships with our distribution partners; our ability to compete in our industry; fluctuations in demand, sales cycles and prices for our products and services; shortages or price fluctuations in our supply chain; our ability to protect our intellectual property rights; general political, economic and market conditions and events; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in our documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission. More information about these and other risks that may impact Riverbed's business are set forth in our Form 10-Q filed with the SEC on October 30, 2008. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and we assume no obligation to update these forward-looking statements. Any future product, feature or related specification that may be referenced in this release are for information purposes only and are not commitments to deliver any technology or enhancement. Riverbed reserves the right to modify future product plans at any time.
About Riverbed
Riverbed Technology is the technology and market leader in WAN optimization for companies worldwide. By enabling application performance over the wide area network (WAN) that is orders of magnitude faster than what users experience today, Riverbed is changing the way people work, and enabling a distributed workforce that can collaborate as if they were local. Additional information about Riverbed (
Riverbed Technology, Riverbed, Steelhead, RiOS, Interceptor, and the Riverbed logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Riverbed Technology, Inc. All other trademarks used or mentioned herein belong to their respective owners.
