Space Engineering Services Implements Expand Networks' WAN Optimization Technology

Expand Networks (News - Alert), a provider of application acceleration solutions over the Wide Area Network (WAN), has announced today that Space Engineering Services has implemented Expand’s WAN Optimization technology.

Space Engineering Services is a facilities management company and provider of refrigeration, HVAC, mechanical and electrical services to the U.K.’s largest supermarkets and retailers.

By integrating this technology, Space Engineering Services has noticed an improved performance in the WAN and is enjoying accelerated performance in business critical applications. In addition, the customer experience has been enhanced, and the cost and productivity of the existing network assets have been maximized.

 

Since its inception in 1988, Space Engineering has realized an increased reliance on IT systems and Web traffic levels. This has placed a significant strain on its WAN infrastructure, which struggled to cope with the added pressure of delivering critical applications to its dispersed workforce.

Large engineering CAD files, in particular, were bring sent via e-mail, which were very bandwidth intensive. Sensitive Citrix applications became dominated by more aggressive applications causing congestion. To alleviate the problem, Space Engineering looked to WAN Optimization technologies.

Adam Bess, IT Manager at Space Engineering Services explained in a Monday statement: “Our refrigeration systems are the lifeblood of our retail customer base, and as a support and maintenance company, our administration, customer services and engineering teams have strict SLAs to adhere to.”

“Slow and cumbersome communications and applications was simply not an option and we quickly turned to WAN Optimization specialists Expand to help us improve network performance across the business,” Bess added.

Expand’s platform offered integrated WAN optimization technology that has enabled Space Engineering Services to immediately compress and accelerate traffic across the WAN and put the users in virtual proximity of applications.

Bess continued: “The optimization capabilities of the platform quickly delivered the bandwidth increase we required, significantly improving throughput on our WAN. In addition, Layer 7 QoS technology gave us visibility within the Citrix/ICA protocol to prioritize the server-based applications, protecting our business critical Citrix applications from congestion, and at the same time, acceleration techniques overcame any latency.”

“While we anticipated the significant impact the technology would have on our e-mail application and web-traffic, we were amazed by the success of Expand’s platform when it came to Citrix-based applications, which are notoriously tricky to accelerate,” said Bess.

In addition to the efficiency benefits, the WAN Optimization solution has also enables Space Engineering Services to make increased efficiency gains, while also maximizing existing networking infrastructure to add to the bottom line.

Mike Betz (News - Alert), VP Sales EMEA at Expand Networks commented in the Monday statement, “In the current economic climate, many organizations, particularly in the retail sector, are under increased pressure to reduce margins. For service-oriented businesses like Space Engineering Services, increased productivity is critical.”

“This is where WAN Optimization solutions can afford real efficiency gains across the whole organization, which can inevitably be sold back to customers. WAN infrastructure is a costly central overhead if not managed appropriately.”

“Space Engineering Services understood this, and by utilizing Expand’s technology they have now maximized their existing network investments, and now have better visibility of all network traffic, enabling them to better plan for future projects and understand where further efficiency gains can be made,” Betz concluded.

Space Engineering Services has been able to realize significant improvements to its WAN with the help of Expand Networks. By recognizing the internal processes that were slowing down the network and using up the majority of the bandwidth, Expand Networks was able to offer a solution that allowed Space Engineering Services to leverage its current system while also expanding capability.

By taking such an approach to WAN optimization, Expand Networks delivers greater value to the customer as it allows the customer to extend the value of current investments, while also improving overall performance. Such a strategy is sure to drive demand for Expand Networks throughout the market.