Steelhead Appliance Installation and Configuration Guide
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CHAPTER 1
Overview of the Steelhead EX
The Steelhead EX series combines WAN optimization, virtualization, and storage consolidation to enable
organizations to meet the needs of the active branch office.
Each Steelhead EX appliance combines WAN optimization and the Riverbed Virtual Services Platform
(VSP), a dedicated platform that runs virtual services and enables consolidation in branch offices.
Steelhead EX series can be upgraded to include Granite, the virtual edge of the data center that allows end
users in a branch to access and write to centralized storage over the WAN at local speeds.
This chapter provides an overview of the Steelhead EX. It includes the following sections:
“Virtual Services Platform” on page 11
“Granite Branch Storage” on page 12
“Granite-Dedicated Target Mode” on page 14
“What’s New In This Version?” on page 14
“Upgrading to Version 2.1” on page 15
WAN Optimization
The causes for slow throughput in WANs are well known: high delay (round-trip time or latency), limited
bandwidth, and chatty application protocols. Large enterprises spend a significant part of their information
technology budgets on storage and networks, much of it spent to compensate for slow throughput by
deploying redundant servers and storage and the required backup equipment. Steelhead appliances let you
consolidate and centralize key IT resources to save money, reduce capital expenditures, simplify key
business processes, and improve productivity.
With the Steelhead appliance, you can solve a range of problems affecting WANs and application
performance, including:
Insufficient WAN bandwidth
Inefficient transport protocols in high-latency environments
Inefficient application protocols in high-latency environments
