Since your primary application at the remote sites is Citrix, look at the Citrix WanScalers (or Branch repeaters). They're much less expensive than most of the other contenders, especially Riverbed, and have the extra added benefit that no other optimizer can offer, true Citrix ICA optimization.
We did evals of Riverbed, and while it worked great, it didn't accelerate ICA directly, and it costs out the wazzu. Also, if you're providing internet access through the user's Citrix sessions, I don't understand why they'd see latency because of the wan links between headquarters and remote site. Same goes for streaming video. If your users are doing those things in their Citrix sessions, the browsing and streaming are taking place at headquarters, and the remote users are just seeing the results in their Citrix windows. From: David Mazzaccaro [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, January 25, 2011 2:49 PM To: NT System Admin Issues Subject: Riverbed Steelhead Hi all, I am looking to optimize my WAN. I have 8 locations that all come back to my main site (all locations are being bumped up from fractional Ts to 1.5Mbps T1 circuits) There are no servers or internet access at any remote sites, and all applications are run on our Citrix 4.0 servers at the main site. Even with full T1 lines and citrix, these remote sites suffer from latency, especially internet browsing. I am wondering what is out there to help speed things up. I stumbled on Riverbed's Steelhead product and am waiting for a call back to discuss their offerings. >From what little I've read, riverbed does a great job of reducing some types >of traffic, but I'm not sure what I can do about certain things like streaming >internet video. Anyone have any experience w/ riverbed in this type of environment? . ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected]<mailto:[email protected]> with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin ~ Finally, powerful endpoint security that ISN'T a resource hog! ~ ~ <http://www.sunbeltsoftware.com/Business/VIPRE-Enterprise/> ~ --- To manage subscriptions click here: http://lyris.sunbelt-software.com/read/my_forums/ or send an email to [email protected] with the body: unsubscribe ntsysadmin
