How often do we miss the overall point of an experience?

Do we attend Le Mans and not pay attention to the races? Do we watch American Idol and fail to focus on the performance?

In each of the above situations, we miss the underlying challenge; the opportunity to meet adversity head-on and the way in which each individual handles the circumstances thrown at them.

While you may wonder what in the world this has to do with WAN optimization, think about the implications of limited bandwidth within the enterprise. The end user will only pay attention to how well their information processes through the available space – how fast are they able to work? They won’t notice a limited WAN pipe, replication issues or lax backup. It is up to the IT manager to ensure that performance is as expected at all times.

Implementation has a lot to do with WAN optimization. The enterprise has a certain amount of data that must be moved to point Y in a certain amount of time. Some systems will copy changes as they occur, while others will run the transfers in one large lump at a given time of day. As noted in a recent Sys-Con piece, both methods move the same amount of data; the only change is the impact on the WAN connection.

There are benefits to implementing both methods. For one, a steady, small stream of data is unlikely to block the WAN connection and can drive WAN optimization. It will also keep the data as close to up-to-date as possible. Traditional backups, however, can be scheduled so that at peak times they are not using bandwidth at all and transfer data only when there is not much use otherwise.

For the global company, however, there may be no off-peak time to speak of and this increases the necessity of implementing both methods of replication. When peak times are hit, changes to databases and files also can peak, which puts a throttle on the connection as it increases replication bandwidth at the same time that normal usage is also increasing bandwidth needs. A bigger connection can help to address the problem, but it costs money and may eventually need to be bigger.

The ideal solution is in a WAN optimization controller. Such tools help to ensure the pipe is better utilized or that it can differentiate between traffic that absolutely must get through versus traffic that doesn’t have to. When WAN optimization on-the-fly compression and deduplication are added, less data is sent over the pipe and more room for applications is available while ensuring critical applications always get through.

Once the organization has the right WAN optimization tools in place, NASCAR and American Idol downloads won’t slow the system!