We are sometimes asked how we position ourselves against Cisco WAAS. (Both by resellers and end users) We thought we would use this opportunity to summarise.

Cisco WAAS is focused entirely on the enterprise market whereas Opteq is equally suited to both enterprise and ISP environments.

The additional granularity and control provided by layer 7 DPI (deep packet inspection) and its reasonable cost of ownership makes the Opteq iQ offering very attractive to those looking for either a single unit to manage the entire WAN or as a complimentary offering to an existing wan optimisation deployment.

Opteq’s host pacing technology dramatically improves wide-area network (WAN) performance from a central location. This means Opteq can be deployed asymmetrically (that is, just at the central site) when only traffic management is required. This significantly reduces both the Total Cost of Ownership and operational expenditures as you need only one device, to control all applications and usage on the network, with greater efficiency and less effort. Allowing one to deploy units and selected technologies at remote sites only as and where required based on actual hard evidence gleamed from reporting stats. Traditionally Cisco , Riverbed, Silver peak etc have been comparatively weak on the visibility and reporting side of things which the Opteq provides as standard.

Cisco’s WAAS core strength lies in its ability to accelerate all TCP streams and includes WAFS for caching CIFS data amongst other technologies. Where they fall short and where there is room for Opteq to add significant value is in the quality of service side of the wan optimisation arsenal. Opteq ensures high priority traffic has a free flowing path through the network without ever being caught in a buffer shuffle or Queue. Opteq does this by controlling the traffic flow from the source, pacing lower priority traffic so that higher priority traffic such as VOIP and Video always have the bandwidth they require. Cisco WAAS puts all non TCP traffic into a queue. Opteq is as plug-and-play as you get and is very easy to use. Opteq’s host pacing uses advanced shaping technologies to eliminate network congestion altogether, allocates bandwidth fairly to all users and provides layer 7 application layer visibility and reporting.

Opteq can be deployed standalone or as complimentary devices alongside other solutions such as Cisco WAAS and Riverbed steelhead device’s to specialize how the bandwidth is utilized for example by eliminating congestion and optimising the distribution of protocols across the links whilst removing unwanted traffic types such as viruses / p2p / video downloads that Cisco WAAS and Riverbed Steelhead appliances would simply accelerate. The Opteqs provides DPI with highly granular classification, policy control and QoS enforcement.

Which solution the client actually goes for can also depend on external factors e.g.: Does the customer own the CE routers? If not then non Cisco optimisation appliances may need to be considered.

Opteq’s host pacing technology is a direct traffic control approach that utilizes and leverages TCP'’s inherent flow control mechanisms to achieve the maximum and most efficient bandwidth usage. Opteq devices are able to provide accurate per-application control that dynamically shapes both incoming and outgoing traffic flows in real time and at Gigabit speeds. (currently up to 10Gbps – 20Gbps full duplex )

Given that Cisco WAAS – must have two boxes, one on each side of the link to work. That rules them out of the mid range isp market.

There are opportunities for Opteq with resellers who also sell Cisco WAAS.

1) Selling bandwidth management to ISP’s
2) Complimenting an existing Cisco WAAS / River bed Steelhead rollout
3) Enterprises looking for a cost effective way of making a significant difference to user experience without having to deploy multiple units at each site can use a single Opteq box in the core.
4) An alternative to Cisco WAAS for a full scale wan optimisation deployment

Listed below are a few examples of how Opteq might help an ISP or enterprise business.

• Network Visibility: Full layer 7 visibility of network traffic.
• Real-time Monitoring and alerting which helps identify issues on the network before they become potential problems.
• Bandwidth management allocating bandwidth to services based on current average demand.
• High Performance Caching (WCCP & Transparent)
• Intelligent server load balancing
• Complete bandwidth management & subscriber provisioning
• Top Ratio link compression with byte caching