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Lucy Switchgear

After installing Riverbed Steelhead appliances at its UK and Dubai offices, Lucy Switchgear experienced a 50% reduction in bandwidth utilization and 90% improvement in file transfer times.

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Granite

Edge Server, Application and Storage Consolidation

Riverbed® Granite™ is edge virtual server infrastructure (edge-VSI). Granite radically reduces operational burden on IT managers while massively increasing their control over the infrastructure—all at a lower total cost of ownership. Granite is the innovation that enables an architectural disruption known as edge virtual server infrastructure (edge-VSI). Edge-VSI enables the best of all worlds: 100% consolidated data and applications that deliver LAN performance at the edge over the WAN.

Steelhead CX

In the past, data centers and edge offices were managed through separate operational processes, procedures and infrastructures. Granite bridges the gap between the data center and global offices at the edge, allowing for seamless integration between data center and globally distributed operations. Granite introduces a new architectural approach that does for edge servers outside of the data center what virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) did for desktops:  allow IT to consolidate and manage all edge servers in the data center.  Granite does what was previously thought impossible:  it allows storage to be decoupled from its server over thousands of miles of distance—and actually work as if the storage were local to the server.  End users in edge locations get uncompromised performance, while IT management is able to manage, backup, provision, patch, expand, and protect the data all within the four walls of the data center.

Complete Server and Storage Consolidation Certain business applications still require local servers and storage to meet the performance requirements of end users. With Granite, IT can successfully separate branch computing from data storage eliminating the need to purchase and support servers and storage traditionally hosted in branch offices for performance reasons.Users and applications in the branch experience local performance while data is consolidated securely in a central location.

Riverbed Granite provides the following capabilities:

  • Innovative block-storage optimization ensures that that data is centrally managed yet always available to support business operations in the branch even in the event of a WAN outage
  • A local authoritative cache ensures LAN-speed reads and fast cold writes at the branch
  • Integration with Microsoft Volume Shadow Copy Service enables consistent point-in-time data snapshots and seamless integration with backup applications
  • Integration with industry-standard Challenge-Handshake Authentication Protocol (CHAP) authenticates users and hosts
  • A secure vault protects sensitive information using AES 256-bit encryption
  • Leverages solid state disks (SSDs) to guarantee data durability and performance
  • An active-active high availability (HA) deployment option for Granite ensures LUN availability for remote sites
  • Easy to use wizard configuration automates and simplifies setup
  • Customizable reports provide visibility to key utilization, performance, and diagnostic information

Granite requires two components: Granite Core, a physical or virtual appliance in the data center, and Granite Edge, a service running on a Steelhead EX in the branch office. Alternatively, Granite Edge is available as a standalone appliance for use with existing Steelhead appliance (non-EX) installations.

Model Specifications: EX Riverbed Steelhead Appliances

 
Small Office Steelhead          Mid-Size Office Steelhead
Large Office or Data Center Steelhead
Model
EX560 Series
EX760 Series
EX1160 Series
EX1260(2 TB) Series
EX1260(4 TB) Series
Configurations G L M H L M H G L M H VH G L M H VH G L M H VH
Profile
1U
2U
2U
Upgradable To 560-L/M/H 560-M/H 560-H - 760-M/H 760-H - 1160-L/M/H 1160-M/H 1160-H - - 1260-L/M/H 1260-M/H 1260-H - - 1260-L/M/H 1260-M/H 1260-H - -
Optimized WAN Capacity(a) 4 Mbps 4 Mbps 6 Mbps 10 Mbps 10  Mbps 10  Mbps 20  Mbps 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 20 Mbps 45 Mbps 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 20 Mbps 45 Mbps 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 20 Mbps 45 Mbps
Optimized TCP Connections(b) N/A 250 350 650 900 1,500 2,300 N/A 900 1,500 2,300 4,000 N/A 900 1,500 2,300 4,000 N/A 900 1,500 2,300 4,000
QoS Bandwidth(c) 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 10 Mbps 45 Mbps 45 Mbps 45 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps 100 Mbps
QoS Rules/Classes(d) 500 500 500 500 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000 1000
Raw Storage Capacity
1080 GB
1160 GB
2160 GB
2320 GB
4160 GB
4320 GB
8160 GB
8320 GB
Data Store Capacity (SSD) 40 GB 40 GB 70 GB 70 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 300 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 300 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 150 GB 300 GB
VSP Partition(h) N/A
upto 380 GB
upto 380 GB
N/A
upto 415 GB
N/A
upto 860 GB
N/A
upto 1860 GB
Granite block store(h) 380 GB
upto 380 GB
upto 380 GB
760 GB
upto 760 GB
1580 GB
upto 1580 GB
3575 GB
upto 3575 GB
Storage Fault Tolerance
-
RAID(c)
RAID(f)
RAID(d)
Hot Swappable Drives
-
6(e)
6
8
10
12
RAM (without Granite) N/A 8 GB 16 GB N/A 16 GB 20 GB N/A
Available for VSP N/A 2 GB 6 GB N/A 8 GB N/A
RAM (with Granite)(g) 16 GB 16 GB 20 GB 24/32(j) GB 24/32(j) GB 32/64(j) GB 32/64(j) GB
Available for VSP(j) N/A 7 GB 6 GB N/A 8 GB 9/17(j) GB 5/13(j) GB 12/44(j) GB 8/40(j) GB
Expansion Slots (PCI-e)(i) - 2 4 4
Included Bypass Ports (Copper) 4 4 4 4
Max. # of Bypass Ports 4 4 4 4

Model Specifications: Granite Core

 
Granite Core
Model
VGC2000
GC2000
Configurations VL L M L M H VH
Profile
Virtual
2U
Upgradable To VGC2000-L/M VGC2000-M - GC2000-M/H/VH GC2000-H/VH GC2000-VH -
Front Swappable Drives N/A 2 2 2 2
RAM N/A 24 GB 24 GB 24 GB 24 GB
Expansion Slots (PCI-e) N/A 4
Included Ports(Copper) N/A 6
Max. # of Ports N/A 6
Branches 5 10 20 10 20 40 80
Data Set Size(1) 2 TB 5 TB 10 TB 5 TB 10 TB 20 TB 35 TB

Power & Physical Specifications:

 
Small Office Steelhead
Mid-Size Office Steelhead
Large Office or Data Center Steelhead
Data Center
Model
EX560760 Series
EX1160 Series
EX1260 Series/ GC2000
GC2000
Dual Power Supplies
-
Yes Yes
Power [Watts] (Typical)
85
175
355
330
BTU
295
605
1215
1130
Temparature
10 - 40 deg C / 50 - 95 deg F (Operating)
-40 - 65 deg C / -40 - 149 deg F (Storage)
Relative Humidity(i)
20% - 80% non-condensing (Operating)
5% - 95% non-condensing (Storage)
Operating Acoustic noise (Typical)
57 dBA
62 dBA
65 dBA
System Dimensions (LxWxH)(ii)
17.09 x 15.52 x1.66 in 434.0 x 394.3 x 42.4 mm
25.4x17.2x1.71 in 645.4x436x43.5 mm
25.4x17.2x3.43 in 645.4x436x87.1 mm
Packaging Dimensions
36.25x23.38x12.5 in 920.8x593.7x317.5 mm
Max Weight (without packaging)
17.76 Lbs /8.06 Kg
36Lbs / 16.36 Kg
58 Lbs / 23.36 Kg
Rail Information
Mounting ears included. Orderable spare part RMK-005
Mounting rail kit inlcuded. Orderable spare part RMK-002

 


Scenario 1: The Granite setup wizard auto-discovers storage LUNs from configured storage targets, ensuring proper mapping of resources to Granite Edge in the branch office.


Scenario 2: The Granite Management Console displays performance and usage details at a glance, including IOPS and capacity allocation.


Scenario 3: In the branch office, Granite Edge provides access to data center storage as though it were a local block-level storage device.


Scenario 4: Granite customizable reports deliver insight into key system statistics including storage load and performance.

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Riverbed. WAN optimization for your network: Application acceleration, WAN bandwidth optimization, and IT consolidation
Riverbed Technology delivers performance for the globally connected enterprise. With Riverbed, enterprises can successfully and intelligently implement strategic initiatives such as virtualization, consolidation, cloud computing, and disaster recovery without fear of compromising performance. By giving enterprises the platform they need to understand, optimize and consolidate their IT, Riverbed helps enterprises to build a fast, fluid and dynamic IT architecture that aligns the business needs of the organization. Additional information about Riverbed (NASDAQ: RVBD) is available at www.riverbed.com.