Large government agencies face many of the same challenges as large enterprises. Whether it's a U.S. government agency operating in the fifty states, an internationally-focused agency operating around the globe, or an international government supporting domestic or international agencies, wide-area network performance is critical.

Riverbed WDS solutions can improve the throughput of distributed applications, from Windows to Exchange, FTP, and web applications. In many parts of the U.S. and the world, bandwidth just isn't as available as IT managers would like. Even if it is available, it may be expensive or only available through satellite links. Additionally the latency is very high because of the distances involved, which means that the throughput of the applications being used will be very low.

Riverbed can help government agencies consolidate projects to improve data security, improve application performance, deliver optimized throughput, and ensure the complete rollout of key applications. Additionally, Steelhead appliances can optimize bandwidth to deliver new services, avoid a WAN upgrade, or get more data through your current WAN infrastructure.

Accelerating the armed forces

One of the largest Navies in the world was looking for a way to simplify communication between ships and their terrestrial-based support facilities for IP-based voice, video, and data collaboration. This Navy fleet uses high-latency, low-bandwidth radio-frequency satellite links between its support facilities and its ships all over the world.

Using Riverbed Steelhead appliances, this Navy was able to achieve "near-terrestrial" performance of its key Web applications on all of its ships. At the same time, bandwidth utilization was reduced by nearly 70%, freeing up bandwidth for real time voice and video.