Verizon Business Adds Riverbed Application Acceleration Technology, New Consulting Services to Boost Performance of Key Business Applications

Businesses worldwide will be able to more effectively share video, Web and other key business applications across multiple locations, with new application performance capabilities and professional consulting services from Verizon Business.

The company is adding the award-winning Riverbed Technology WAN optimization solution to its Managed WAN Optimization Services portfolio and introducing new professional services to help companies tailor application acceleration solutions to boost their business performance. 

Verizon Managed WAN Optimization Services, available in 142 countries, enable companies to fine-tune their Internet protocol wide area networks to better manage applications, enhance bandwidth usage and reduce latency - the amount of time it takes for data to transfer between company locations. 

"Application performance is one of the most critical issues facing businesses today," said Anthony Recine, vice president for network and communications solutions for Verizon Business.  "These new capabilities can enhance how companies use their wide area networks by accelerating how large files and popular applications like SAP and ERP are delivered in identical fashion across business locations without the need for additional network resources."

New Platform, More Flexibility

With the addition of Riverbed® WAN optimization solutions to Verizon's portfolio of application performance solutions, Verizon customers will have another technology choice for Managed WAN Optimization Services and the ability to accelerate applications supported by Riverbed. 

Riverbed WAN optimization solutions enable organizations of all sizes to overcome a wide range of IT performance bottlenecks, including poor application performance, slow backups and insufficient bandwidth at remote sites. By speeding applications between data centers and remote offices, Riverbed Steelhead® appliances reduce the performance barrier for organizations that adopt a consolidated or cloud-oriented IT delivery model.

"We've become a market leader by delivering a highly scalable technology that can be flexibly integrated into very complex enterprise environments to support a wide range of business-critical applications," said Randy Schirman, vice president of service providers and systems integrators for Riverbed.  "Making our solution available through Verizon's leading managed services can help medium to large businesses consolidate and virtualize network and data center resources, reducing IT complexity and overhead."

New Professional Consulting Capabilities

Verizon Business' new professional consulting capabilities for Managed WAN Optimization Services have been designed to assess a customer's unique business requirements and network architecture.  The consulting capabilities are available immediately to U.S.-based customers, and international availability is planned for later this year.

Verizon's WAN Optimization Proof of Concept professional service allows a customer to test drive the acceleration technology before committing to a purchase and contract. Verizon Business' experts will facilitate the implementation and testing and will provide recommendations to best meet the customer's needs.

Verizon Business' expert consultants can also help customers fine-tune their existing wide area networks and implement these capabilities, including via a third-party provider, across a complex enterprise landscape, so that customers can focus on their core business.

Both Verizon Business and Riverbed are considered industry leaders in the managed WAN optimization market.  Verizon Business was recently positioned in the Leaders quadrant by Gartner Inc. in its 2010 report, "Magic Quadrant for Global Network Service Providers."¹  Riverbed was also positioned in the Leaders quadrant by Gartner Inc. in another report, "Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers, 2009."²

About the Gartner Magic Quadrant
The Magic Quadrants are copyrighted 2009 and 2010 by Gartner, Inc. and is reused with permission. The Magic Quadrant is a graphical representation of a marketplace at and for a specific time period. It depicts Gartner's analysis of how certain vendors measure against criteria for that marketplace, as defined by Gartner. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in the Magic Quadrant, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors placed in the "Leaders" quadrant. The Magic Quadrant is intended solely as a research tool, and is not meant to be a specific guide to action. Gartner disclaims all warranties, express or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

About Verizon Business
Verizon Business, a unit of Verizon Communications (NYSE, NASDAQ: VZ), is a global leader in communications and IT solutions. We combine professional expertise with one of the world's most connected IP networks to deliver award-winning communications, IT, information security and network solutions.  We securely connect today's extended enterprises of widespread and mobile customers, partners, suppliers and employees - enabling them to increase productivity and efficiency and help preserve the environment.  Many of the world's largest businesses and governments - including 96 percent of the Fortune 1000 and thousands of government agencies and educational institutions - rely on our professional and managed services and network technologies to accelerate their business. Find out more at www.verizonbusiness.com.

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¹ Gartner, Inc. Magic Quadrant for Global Network Service Providers, Neil Rickard, Robert Mason, March 8, 2010.
² Gartner, Inc. Magic Quadrant for WAN Optimization Controllers, 2009, Andy Rolfe, Joe Skorupa, Severine Real, June 30, 2009.