Wide Area Network Acceleration for Military Field

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Table of Contents

Abstract
Introduction
Comparison
Conclusion
References

Abstract

Three product ranges for WAN acceleration are compared: WAAS WAN by Cisco, SteelHead by Riverbed, and WAN optimization solutions by Silver Peak. The products are evaluated with the purpose of integrating them into the military field of logistics. The evaluation is based on five criteria – the range of available products, security concerns, specifications and compatibility, general requirements for installation, and pricing options and offers. After assessing all aspects of the companies’ products, it is established that Cisco has the most suitable solutions because it values data security and offers a transparent description of its vast variety of products.

Introduction

The following paper will assess three products for WAN (Wide Area Network) acceleration that can be used in a military field. The goal of WAN acceleration products is to improve the performance of data transfer in the networks through a variety of operations such as compression, file deduplication, and others (Soewito, Andy, Gunawan, & Mansuan, 2017). The described products include Wide Area Application Services (WAAS) by Cisco, SteelHead WAN optimization products by Riverbed, and the NX and VX series of WAN optimization hardware and software solutions by Silver Peak. These services will be assessed according to five criteria, including their range of available products, level of security, specifications, general requirements for installation and management, and pricing options. A recommendation will be provided on the basis of the evaluation that will examine all benefits and drawbacks of all introduced systems.

Comparison

Range of Products

First of all, it is necessary to examine how many products and services can be acquired from one company to achieve the best results for WAN optimization. According to Cisco (2018), Cisco WAAS is the most “scalable, highest-performance WAN optimization solution” (para. 1). The company has a wide range of solutions for different types of enterprises, including the Wide Area Application Virtualization Engine (WAVE) series that are established as cost-effective and suitable for cloud computing and video services (Cisco, 2018). Other products such as Virtual WAAS (vWAAS) are fully optimized to work in a cloud infrastructure.

The SteelHead product range also features different solutions, appliances, and software. For example, SteelHead CX for Virtual is a virtual product that is focused on both on-premises and cloud services of an organization, while other models such as SteelHead CX and GX are physical appliances that also have similar purposes (Riverbed, 2018). Notable, Riverbed has a mobile solution called SteelHead Mobile, which is fully incorporated into the main infrastructure and does not require a separate data center peer. Finally, Silver Peak also offers many products that can satisfy the needs of customers with different requirements. Their VX virtual WAN optimization software is one of the leading products in the line, allowing organizations to deploy it both as hardware appliances and as a virtual machine (Silver Peak, n.d.).

Level of Security

The issue of information safety in installing WAN acceleration services should not be overlooked. Furthermore, the area of implementation, namely the Army units and the Logistics Department, has data the protection of which is vital to the organization. The first company, Cisco (2018), offers products with an Advanced Encryption Standard (AES) encryption for the data-at-rest period. Goods are also equipped with firewalls, authentication, authorization, and accounting (AAA) integration of partnering companies’ services such as Microsoft. Cisco IOS Intrusion Prevention System has the purpose of securing accelerated traffic – a unique feature among other industries ‘ products (Cisco, 2018).

Riverbed’s products do not feature a description of specific security functionality or any mention of encryption, firewalls, or partner companies. Thus, it is difficult to assess the level of security that the firm can guarantee for the client. As data security is vital for the military field, this lack of description and specification is unsatisfactory (“G-4 (Logistics),” 2018). Lastly, Silver Peak (n.d.) mentions that all products in the range utilize AES encryption for locally stored data and IPSec encryption for data in the process of transferring. Other solutions are not specified, including firewall integration. However, the firm works with other providers of software and hardware and partners with Microsoft among other major companies. Thus, its concern for security may be established as one of the most critical products’ features.

Specifications

To choose the best provider of goods, one should assess the compatibility of future products with the available equipment, and their ability to be used with other solutions. Firths of all, Cisco (2018) can be integrated with Microsoft products as it is a certified client with interoperability options. Other services such as VPN (a virtual private network) and wireless and cellular access are available as well (Cisco, 2018). WAAS products support a variety of optimization approaches, including such techniques as section-based persistent Lempel-Ziv compression, TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) optimization, adaptive buffering, connection re-use, data deduplication, caching, and others (Cisco, 2018). Furthermore, some acceleration for specific applications is also included in Cisco’s products. For instance, it can focus on Microsoft Exchange, Web services, streaming video, or encrypted traffic. Finally, Cisco offers a vast range of compatible products, including security, network speed, hardware, video conferencing, and others.

Riverbed’s (2018) solutions also have a variety of products that are interoperable with Microsoft, HP, IBM, and other companies’ products. They are certified as well. They offer products that can be suitable for both the mid-size and large offices and data centers, based on their specifications. Thus, the interoperability of SteelHead products is high as well. SteelHead Mobile offers compatibility with different services, including VPN from Cisco, OpenVPN, Citrix, and other versions (Riverbed, 2018). Notably, the company uses a universal data store and not a peer-peer datastore, common among competitors. It allows storing more data and performing more efficiently. Silver Peak incorporates disk-based compression based on Lempel-Ziv algorithms for all hardware. Deduplication is also disk-based, and it uses Network Memory, adding a practical feature for locating accurate stored data. TCP and non-TCP acceleration and protocol optimization use a wide range of techniques similar to Cisco. Moreover, the company also features application-specific solutions.

General Requirements for Installation and Management

Cisco (2018) points out that its products are simple to install and use, and that all operations are also simplified to increase transparency for workers. It also highlights the high level of compatibility with other products which makes the processes of installation and management less challenging. However, the initial requirements for the appliances are not as direct as they could have been and it is unclear which products are the best for this particular situation. However, Cisco has a transparent and robust support network for its customers that can reduce the lack of information.

Riverbed, on the other hand, provides its customers with all requirements, directly stating what operations systems, CPU, memory capacity, and other aspects are needed to incorporate SteelHead products in an organization successfully. The company supports both Windows and MacOS latest versions and a variety of older versions as well. Moreover, it is stated how many appliances from the company are needed on Server Side to support the operations. Such transparency eliminates possible misunderstandings.

Finally, Silver Peak also lists the requirements along with specifications for each product in the range, making it easy to look over the available solutions and limit the search before interacting with the company. Such aspects as CPU, disk capacity, memory, and hypervisors are described for all software solutions. Furthermore, the requirements are specific for each model and are divided into groups for small and large locations, helping customers to understand the scope of their operations.

Pricing Options

While the transparency of pricing options may be less expected from companies with a large number of clients, some basic information can be gathered from the firms’ websites. Moreover, some additional offers may be reviewed as well. Cisco (2018) asks to contact local representatives for pricing options for all solutions. It can be explained by the place that the corporation has on the market for technology solutions. Notable, Riverbed (2018) offers its clients a 90-day evaluation trial for its software products such as SteelHead CX Virtual. This proposal to try the latest product versions may be enticing for clients who are unsure of making purchases without preliminary assessments. Finally, Silver Peak does not have any transparent offers and trial periods. However, it states that virtual appliances are purchased as a subscription service with the possibility to upgrade licenses for capacity enhancement (Silver Peak, n.d.).

Conclusion

After comparing three product ranges from Cisco, Riverbed, and Silver Peak, it is possible to conclude that Cisco’s solutions may be the most suitable for a military network. The company is very transparent in describing its specifications, has a wide variety of products both physical and virtual. Moreover, Cisco values security and offers an extensive description of all services that are incorporated into the products to ensure that data stays safe during storage and transfer. While the other companies also mentioned security, they failed to include any information about the possibility of breaches. All in all, Cisco is a reliable partner that offers products highly compatible with other services.

References

Cisco. (2018).Cisco wide area application services data sheet. Web.

G-4 (Logistics). (2018). Web.

Riverbed. (2018). SteelHead product family. Web.

Silver Peak. (n.d.). VX virtual WAN optimization software. Web.

Soewito, B., Andy, Gunawan, F. E., & Mansuan, M. S. (2017). WAN optimization to speed up data transfer. Procedia Computer Science, 116, 45-53.

Click Here To Order Now!