Infrastructure Services Provider, Burns & Roe, Implements Expand Networks WAN Optimization Solution

Business Wire, Nov 5, 2007

Expand's Compass Platform Yields 'Broadband-like' Performance over SATCOM in Remote Environments

ROSELAND, N.J. -- Expand Networks www.expand.com, a leading provider of application acceleration solutions over the Wide Area Network (WAN), today announced that Burns and Roe Services Corporation (BRSC) www.roe.com has successfully implemented Expand's Compass Platform across their network for server/network centralization and consolidation, server-based computing and satellite communications. Burns and Roe, a global infrastructure services company, provides expert operations, maintenance, repair, and construction services by mobilizing and managing workforces for projects and facilities, large or small, simple or complex, in urban or remote locations.

"We were challenged with our existing network prior to bringing Expand into the picture," said Kenn Devine, Project Team Leader and Manager of Information Systems, BRSC. "Over the years, we had built a decentralized network with servers and workstations located at each of the project sites. These sites had no links to the corporate network (the BRNet) except through Burns and Roe web services provided on the public Internet. One of our project sites is in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where we encounter many communications inefficiencies. Our workforce there supports several functions housed in numerous buildings and the only way to link the local network back to the States is by using a VPN link over satellite."

As the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base is in a remote location with no access to outside infrastructure, communication options are limited, prohibitively expensive, and not always reliable. The infrastructure that was linking the dispersed buildings and over 200 workstations together was an antiquated ADSL over a plain old telephone system (POTS) WAN. To top it off, the speed of these DSL connections is capped at the 512 kbps over-satellite link.

IT Managers wanted to modernize the company's aging infrastructure in order to manage operations more efficiently. But even outside consultants could not deliver a viable long-term solution. Devine reevaluated all of their options and concluded that satellite architecture might be able to deliver the performance required to run their business.

"We looked at a product evaluation from Network Computing and considered several vendors including Packeteer (Mentat), Juniper (Peribit), Swan Labs and Expand," said Devine. "All were good, but Expand had better functionality with the ExpandView software and we got more for our dollar. Quality won out."

Working with Expand reseller LTI DataComm, Burns and Roe concluded testing, devised a logistics plan, staged the equipment and implemented the project. The plan called for the installation of eight accelerators across the BRSC Guantanamo Bay (GTMO) project site; two in the Network Operations Center (NOC) and one each at six of the highest-traffic down-level DSL sites. An accelerator was deployed at the corporate office in Virginia Beach to accelerate the traffic traveling to and from the GTMO site, with all links at 512 kbps.

WAN Optimization delivered a noticeable, positive change. According to Devine, "Expand's solution provides usable features in five key areas that I felt our situation required. It provides the acceleration needed to establish the VPN connection across the satellite link as well as the compression to reduce the amount of redundant packet transfers across the satellite and DSL links. We also saw a benefit in the QoS policy shaping that allowed us to fine-tune the bandwidth to the areas needing it most. Another relevant plus was a sizeable hard drive cache to store frequently accessed Web pages and CIFS caching which will be important once our Active Directory forest is extended to the Guantanamo Bay project site. To round it out, ExpandView keeps track of all the activity. Its reporting component aggregates data collected from all of the devices and produces clear, easy to understand reports."

Devine added, "From a metrics standpoint, we realized some monumental savings and boosts. We estimate the ROI will come between four and seven months as we are saving nearly $10,000 a month based on comparable T1 rates. On average, we experience about a four-fold average bandwidth acceleration across the 512Kbps satellite link, with peaks of 1,200%. Across the DSL sites, we experience an average of about 300% with peaks to 800%, depending on the site. There was also a 400% increase in network throughput, 100% for speed performance (back-up, file transfers) and a 50% bump to the positive in network capacity."

"Many logistics, infrastructure, energy and transportation organizations have no choice but to rely on satellites for network connectivity in remote, hostile environments," said Howard Teicher, VP Public Sector & Satellite Markets, Expand Networks. "Certain applications fail to work in low-bandwidth/high-latency satellite networks, leaving remote workers out of touch and unproductive. Expand's WAN Optimization solution mitigates these limitations and delivers broadband performance to every node on a network."