Services Platforms (RSP/VSP)

The VSP and RSP support virtually any VMware compatible application and service.  Many Riverbed products are also designed specifically to work on both platforms to further extend the value of Steelhead^® appliances.

Riverbed Packages:

Riverbed Steelhead Mobile Controller VE: Manages Steelhead Mobile licenses and controls the deployment, management, and reporting of Steelhead Mobile software clients.

Riverbed Cascade© Sensor VE: Enables seamless performance measurement and delivers network visibility in both optimized and non-optimized environments - without requiring expensive physical probes in every branch office.

Both VSP and RSP also support Riverbed Technology Alliance (RTA) tested applications from a wide variety of category leading products, as well as any VMware virtual machine. These can include everything from a Microsoft Windows Server, network address management, and firewall.  These include:

Edge Services: Enables services like DC, AD, file and print serving, streaming media and BranchCache while delivering LAN-like performance for end users around the globe.

Security: Delivers an end-to-end security solution with the flexibility to choose the best-of-breed security vendors.

Video: Delivers a complete video communications and streaming solution that captures and manages live and on-demand video, distributes Flash and Windows Media formats, and reduces the impact of video bandwidth consumption on the network.

Networking and Management: Helps deliver routing and end-to-end visibility into application performance. Also provides the ability to manage and monitor application response times and SLA requirements at the branch office.

The Riverbed^® Services Platform (RSP) provides customers with the capability to run up to five additional services and applications virtually on VMware in a protected partition on the Steelhead^® xx50 and some xx20 appliances. RSP allows customers to deploy local services in all of their branch offices without the need to deploy and maintain standalone servers to run the applications. Businesses benefit by eliminating the hardware needed at the branch office, enabling companies to consolidate IT operations even further, reducing costs, and simplifying administration, all while still delivering high quality local services. The combination of RSP and the WAN optimization features of Steelhead appliances create an ultra-efficient branch solution.

• Runs up to five virtual machines
• Ability to add virtual disk space to packages
• Support for iSCSI targets from a hosted windows package
• Enhanced watchdog for higher availability
• Runs both the Steelhead Mobile Controller (SMC-VE) or Cascade^® Sensor-VE
• Works virtually inpath
• Supports tested applications from a wide variety of category-leading products, as well as any VMware virtual machine

The Riverbed^® Virtual Services Platform (VSP) runs in a dedicated partition on Steelhead® EX series appliances to give organizations the opportunity to consolidate previously un-consolidateable services onto a high performance branch office box.  VSP features a VMware hypervisor to run virtualized instances of a company’s own services or take advantage of applications designed for VSP by a Riverbed Technology Alliance (RTA) partner.  VSP allows fine-grained configuration of data rules to allow virtualized services to run in or out of path, all without any impact on core WAN optimization performance. Using this revolutionary approach, IT leaders can deploy edge services virtually in all of their branch offices without having to deploy and maintain standalone servers to run the applications, enabling organizations to consolidate IT operations even further.  VSP helps organizations reduce complexity, cut costs, and simplify management, while simultaneously delivering essential local services.

Some of what makes VSP so great are:

• Enhanced ROI: Standard on Steelhead EX series appliances combining WAN optimization and branch office services onto a single appliance
• Dedicated VMware Hypervisor: Take full advantage of VMware expertise and hypervisor capabilities to lower branch office capital and operational costs
• Advanced network rules capabilities: Centralized monitoring of virtual instances with Riverbed management tools
• Application flexibility: Run existing virtual services or Riverbed Technology Alliance Partner packages
• Support for iSCSI targets from a hosted windows package
• Integrated watchdog for higher availability
• Runs both the Steelhead Mobile Controller (SMC-VE) or Cascade^® Sensor-VE as well as other qualified and customer packages
• Packages and Steelhead EX appliances can be deployed in-path or virtually in path, using WCCP and PBR
• Supports tested applications from a wide variety of category-leading products, as well as any VMware virtual machine