WAN optimization and application acceleration provide dramatic performance improvements to applications, potentially eliminating the need for additional bandwidth. However, WAN optimization technology reduces visibility into the end-to-end performance and behavior of these applications.

OPNET has entered into a partnership with Riverbed Technology, the performance leader in wide-area data service (WDS) solutions for companies worldwide, in order to restore visibility into WAN environments that have been optimized by Riverbed.

ACE Solutions

OPNET’s ACE solution offering provides real-time end-user experience monitoring and deep-level troubleshooting of Riverbed optimized environments.

ACE Live™ is an appliance-based solution that spans monitoring, measurement and detection of application performance violations, enhancing visibility into Riverbed optimized environments.

ACE™ Analyst provides deep level troubleshooting to determine the root-cause of a slow performing application or a misconfigured Steelhead appliance.

Analyze Performance Prior to Steelhead Deployment
 
OPNET’s ACE Live monitors application response time prior to deploying WAN optimization:

• Establish a performance baseline to determine the best configuration for Steelhead appliances
• Quantify the components of end-to-end delay to rapidly identify the applications that would benefit most from implementing WAN acceleration
• Estimate the projected impact on response time

Perform End-to-End Performance Monitoring and Analysis
 
Measure the before-and-after measurements to evaluate the benefits associated with a Steelhead deployment:

• Continuously monitor application response time from the end-user perspective
• Automatically alert when performance thresholds are violated
• Evaluate and quantify benefits from Steelhead deployment

View the summary of delays for a Riverbed accelerated application.

ACE Live on Riverbed Services Platform (RSP) is a software only virtual appliance that runs on the Riverbed Services Platform. ACE Live on RSP offers significant benefits to Steelhead users.

• Leverage your existing investment in the Steelhead platform with a “one-box” solution. Increase visibility into application performance at remote sites without the need for an expanded branch office hardware footprint.
• Automatically identify and diagnose performance issues in real-time. ACE Live accelerates problem resolution, enhancing application performance and IT staff productivity.
• Enhance visibility into the accelerated traffic on the Steelhead appliance to provide an accurate end-to-end view of application response. ACE Live easily quantifies the impact of the Steelhead appliances on application traffic.

Continuously monitor applications and the end-user experience.


Automatically baseline and alarm on threshold violations.


Quantify and visualize benefits from Steelhead appliances.

A joint OPNET and Riverbed solution provides:

• Accelerated responsiveness of applications in a WAN environment
• Cost savings by enabling IT infrastructure consolidation while avoiding performance penalties
• Real-time monitoring of application response times, SLAs, traffic, etc. to quantify and visualize the benefit of Steelhead appliances
• Troubleshooting capabilities to prove that slow response times are not necessarily caused by the network, as well as the ability to determine actual root-cause, such as server performance or application behavior