Science & Technology 
Science and Technology
Science and Technology 
Tue, February 17, 2009
Riverbed Technology: Riverbed and Microsoft Broaden Relationship With Windows Server 2008 OEM Agreement
SAN FRANCISCO, CA and REDMOND, WA--(Marketwire - February 17, 2009) - Riverbed Technology (
This agreement further strengthens Riverbed's relationship with Microsoft. In August 2008, Riverbed joined the Microsoft Protocol Optimization Licensing Program (POLP). Through this protocol implementation agreement, Microsoft gives Riverbed access to its intellectual property so that Riverbed can build on its expertise and success accelerating and optimizing Windows-based applications over the wide area network (WAN). Participation in POLP, combined with Riverbed's licensing of Windows Server 2008, gives enterprises that have standardized on Microsoft a proven platform for IT consolidation.
"Many enterprises share a vision of a remote office with few or no servers and IT centralized in the data center," said Zeus Kerravala, senior vice president, Yankee Group. "The addition of Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 to the Riverbed Services Platform moves that vision closer to a reality. Riverbed customers get proven and best-of-breed acceleration that can now run the most common IT platform -- Windows Server -- for their critical remote infrastructure services."
Riverbed will offer the optional Windows Server 2008 operating system pre-installed on the RSP, allowing customers to leverage this open platform to run Windows server. The Windows Server 2008 services that will be offered on the Steelhead appliances initially include Domain Name System (DNS), Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP), Active Directory, Windows streaming and print services.
Riverbed has joined Microsoft's Server Virtualization Validation Program (SVVP) and successfully validated its Steelhead appliance to facilitate joint support for customers running Windows Server 2008 on the RSP. In addition, Riverbed is promoting awareness of the integrated solution among channel resellers and customers by offering business frameworks and marketing programs.
"Building a partnership with Riverbed is an exciting new opportunity for collaboration in the branch office," said Julius Sinkevicius, Director, Windows Server Marketing at Microsoft. "Positioning Windows Server 2008 on the Riverbed Services Platform will increase performance and availability of core services in remote sites."
With the combination of Windows Server 2008 infrastructure services and the Riverbed Steelhead appliances, mutual customers can simplify their branch office infrastructure, while at the same time ensuring application performance for end users.
"Being able to run the Windows Server as a virtual machine inside the Riverbed Services Platform enhances our consolidation efforts at the branch office tremendously. Now, we are able to provide print services and Active Directory logon services -- all with a standard Windows server," according to Strand Associates' IT Coordinator, Justin Marthaler. "With two of our most trusted vendors working hand-in-hand we now have the ability to virtualize branch offices while using the best solutions."
"Through this relationship with Microsoft our joint customers are able to get even more out of their Riverbed investment. The flexibility of our virtualized solution is now further enhanced by the ability to run Windows Server 2008, allowing customers to realize all of the benefits of IT centralization," said Eric Wolford, senior vice president, marketing and business development at Riverbed.
Steelhead Products
Riverbed WAN optimization 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, the Riverbed 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 IT infrastructure performance company. The Riverbed family of wide area network (WAN) optimization solutions liberates businesses from common IT constraints by increasing application performance, enabling consolidation, and providing enterprise-wide network and application visibility -- all while eliminating the need to increase bandwidth, storage or servers. Thousands of companies with distributed operations use Riverbed to make their IT infrastructure faster, less expensive and more responsive. 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.