IT managers at large companies with multiple branch offices or locations "increasingly are relying on WAN optimization to address slow application performance over sagging, slow and overused networks."

Or should be, because if they're not, boy, can you ever tell. Yet, industry observer John Brandon says, because these same companies are so distributed, "implementing a comprehensive strategy to resolve network congestion issues isn't easy."

Not to mention, Brandon says, that upgrading switches and carrier lines can be "prohibitively expensive." The alternative? Managed WAN-optimization services.

As Brandon says, "a host of providers including AT&T, BT Global Services and Verizon Business have beefed up their managed-services portfolios with options for boosting application performance over their networks."

A managed WAN-optimization service can help a company avoid bandwidth upgrades, Brandon notes.

Recently TMC's (News - Alert) Vivek Naik reported that Expand Networks (News - Alert) has announced that its Wide Area Network optimization technology has "significantly improved IPSTAR’s managed satellite based service offering in the broadband segment, especially for the banking and corporate sectors."

 Expand’s WAN optimization technology is based on compression, Naik wrote, which increases the bandwidth usage between 100 to 400 percent, and Open Systems (News - Alert) Interconnection layer 7 Model, which divides the network architecture is divided into 7 layers, and Quality of Service for prioritizing packet traffic.

"Additionally," he said, "its Wide Area File Services enable file servers to consolidate and work regardless of the central file availability. It also has a method to improve the performance of Remote Desktop Protocol and other thin clients even when there are multiple users."

As Brandon says, the decision can be one of capital expense vs. operational cost, since "adding WAN optimization to an existing service is just another item on an expense line -- as opposed to a capital expense, which requires approval."