SAN FRANCISCO, CA--(Marketwire - Jul 3, 2012) - [ Riverbed Technology ] (NASDAQ: [ RVBD ]), the performance company, today announced that [ Riverbed Steelhead® Cloud Accelerator ] has been named the Best of TechEd Award winner in the Cloud Computing category. Steelhead Cloud Accelerator, developed by Riverbed® in partnership with [ Akamai® Technologies ], provides a first-of-its-kind solution to accelerate software-as-a-service (SaaS) performance for Microsoft Office 365. Winners were announced during the Microsoft TechEd Conference, which took place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando, Fla. This award recognizes the innovation behind Steelhead Cloud Accelerator, which provides a complete solution to overcome the potential performance problems created by the distance between end users and their applications, problems that must be addressed to realize the full potential of SaaS.

News Facts

• The Best of TechEd 2012 awards recognize companies based on innovation, strategic importance to the market, competitive advantage, and exceptional value to customers. The judges reviewed 300 products and services submitted for the award and chose 46 finalists to be interviewed at the Microsoft TechEd North America 2012 Conference before selecting winners in 15 categories.
• Steelhead Cloud Accelerator combines market-leading private [ wide area network (WAN) optimization ] with best-of-breed public Internet optimization to accelerate SaaS applications including Microsoft® Office 365.
• Riverbed is a Microsoft ISV Gold Partner and committed to working with Microsoft to enable organizations to accelerate business agility and improve productivity while cutting costs. The collaboration between Riverbed and Microsoft on many key Microsoft applications and platforms, including SharePoint®, Exchange and Office 365, are enabling organizations to experience Microsoft enterprise software solutions over the WAN and in the cloud as if they were local.
• Riverbed was the first WAN optimization vendor to provide an application-layer protocol optimization for Exchange and collaborates extensively with Microsoft teams. This relationship has led to certifications, validations and participation in TAP (Technology Access Program) programs. Among them include certification for WHQL, participation in Protocol Optimization Licensing Program (POLP) and validation for Windows Server 2008 R2. In June 2011, Riverbed was named by Microsoft as an [ application acceleration hardware partner ] in the worldwide network of Microsoft Technology Centers (MTCs).

Supporting Quotes

"As organizations embrace SaaS applications like Microsoft Office 365 for centralization, flexibility and cost savings, getting fast performance over the network is often a challenge. This recognition from Microsoft TechEd validates the value of Steelhead Cloud Accelerator for organizations seeking to overcome the unpredictable performance of hybrid cloud networks. By delivering local-like access to applications in the cloud, organizations can take advantage of the elasticity and cost savings promised by SaaS, the fastest growing segment of cloud computing."
- Eric Wolford, executive vice president and general manager, products group at Riverbed

"Riverbed Steelhead Cloud Accelerator is a one-of-a-kind Software as a Service (SaaS) application accelerator for Office 365, Google Apps, and Salesforce.com that provides dramatic performance gains compared with non-optimized WAN connections. By making a remote cloud resource appear to be a fast local network resource, Steelhead Cloud Accelerator eliminates the performance bottleneck at the very heart of public and hybrid cloud computing."
- Jason Bovberg, senior editor of Windows IT Pro wrote in an [ article ] published on June 15

For more information on Steelhead Cloud Accelerator, please visit:

• Press Release: [ http://rvbd.ly/SCApressrelease ]
• Video Introduction: [ http://rvbd.ly/SCAintro ]
• Video Demo Accelerating Microsoft Office 365: [ http://rvbd.ly/SCAdemo ]
• Riverbed.com - Steelhead Cloud Accelerator Overview: [ http://rvbd.ly/SCApage ]
• Chalk Talk Podcast: [ http://rvbd.ly/SCAchalktalk ]
• Solutions Brief: [ http://rvbd.ly/SCAsolutionsbrief ]

A list of winners and product descriptions can be found at: [ http://www.windowsitpro.com/awards/best-of-tech-ed ]

Additional Resources

• [ Facebook ]
• [ LinkedIn ]
• [ Riverbed Blog ] 
• [ Riverbed Community ] 
• [ Twitter ] (@Riverbed)
• [ YouTube ]

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 April 30, 2012. 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 delivers performance for the globally connected enterprise. With Riverbed, enterprises can successfully and intelligently implement strategic initiatives such as virtualization, consolidation, cloud computing, and disaster recovery without fear of compromising performance. By giving enterprises the platform they need to understand, optimize and consolidate their IT, Riverbed helps enterprises to build a fast, fluid and dynamic IT architecture that aligns with the business needs of the organization. Additional information about Riverbed (NASDAQ: [ RVBD ]) is available at [ www.riverbed.com ].

Riverbed and any Riverbed product or service name or logo used herein are trademarks of Riverbed Technology, Inc. All other trademarks used herein belong to their respective owners.