Expand Networks Wins Space Engineering as WAN Optimization Boosts Customer Service Levels

2008-09-22 17:02:02 -

www.expand.com - FusionPR - US Emilio Dabul, +1-732-910-8795 emilio.dabul@fusionpr.com or Cohesive Communications - International David Rowlands/ Jennifer Manning +44 (0) 1291 626200 expand@cohesive.uk.com Expand Networks, a leading provider of application acceleration solutions over the Wide Area Network (WAN), today announced Space Engineering Services, a facilities management company and provider of refrigeration, HVAC, mechanical and electrical services to the UK's large supermarkets and retailers, has implemented Expand's WAN Optimization technology. The integrated technology has improved the performance of the WAN and is accelerating the organization's business critical applications, enhancing the customer experience of their client base while maximizing the cost and productivity of existing network assets.

Space Engineering has seen an increased reliance on IT systems and web traffic since its inception in 1988. As a rapidly growing organization, the increased traffic levels placed a huge strain on its WAN infrastructure, which struggled to cope with the added pressure of delivering critical applications to its dispersed workforce. In particular, large engineering CAD files sent via e-mail became very bandwidth intensive, while sensitive Citrix applications became dominated by more aggressive applications causing congestion. Space Engineering looked to WAN Optimization technologies to alleviate the problem, as Adam Bess, IT Manager at Space Engineering Services explains:

"Our refrigeration systems are the lifeblood of our retail customer base, and as a support and maintenance company, our administration, customer services and engineering teams have strict SLAs to adhere to. Slow and cumbersome communications and applications was simply not an option and we quickly turned to WAN Optimization specialists Expand to help us improve network performance across the business."

The integrated WAN optimization technology within Expand's platform has enabled Space Engineering Services to immediately compress and accelerate traffic across the WAN and put the users in virtual proximity of applications as Adam Bess comments:

"The optimization capabilities of the platform quickly delivered the bandwidth increase we required, significantly improving throughput on our WAN. In addition, Layer 7 QoS technology gave us visibility within the Citrix/ICA protocol to prioritize the server-based applications, protecting our business critical Citrix applications from congestion, and at the same time, acceleration techniques overcame any latency. While we anticipated the significant impact the technology would have on our e-mail application and web-traffic, we were amazed by the success of Expand's platform when it came to Citrix-based applications, which are notoriously tricky to accelerate."

Alongside the efficiency benefits experienced as a whole, the WAN Optimization solution has enabled Space Engineering Services to make increased efficiency gains, while maximizing existing networking infrastructure to add to the bottom line.

Mike Betz, VP Sales EMEA at Expand Networks comments, "In the current economic climate, many organizations, particularly in the retail sector, are under increased pressure to reduce margins. For service-oriented businesses like Space Engineering Services, increased productivity is critical. This is where WAN Optimization solutions can afford real efficiency gains across the whole organization, which can inevitably be sold back to customers.

WAN infrastructure is a costly central overhead if not managed appropriately. Space Engineering Services understood this, and by utilizing Expand's technology they have now maximized their existing network investments, and now have better visibility of all network traffic, enabling them to better plan for future projects and understand where further efficiency gains can be made."

Optimization of Space Engineering WAN Accelerates Citrix XenApp
and Increases Network Performance for Significant Efficiency Gains