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Enterprises are striving to adopt more cloud-based applications and services in order to accelerate digital transformation, increase business agility and reduce costs. However, the resulting hybrid IT landscape often increases operational complexity and introduces new risk to security breach across the network. According to a recent ESG survey, 91% of companies surveyed agree that incorporating cloud-based applications into their portfolio of corporate applications has increased the complexity associated with managing remote and branch offices (ROBOs).[1] The pervasive use of mobile devices and the rise of IoT further challenges IT’s ability to secure and manage network access with an exponential increase in the number of devices and end-points at the network edge.

To address these challenges, Riverbed SteelConnect helps businesses transform their approach to networking, with a new software-defined and cloud-centric approach that yields dramatic gains in agility, efficiency and flexibility so that businesses can reach their cloud and digital goals faster. Riverbed SteelConnect has gained significant momentum over the last couple years, with hundreds of enterprise customers across all industries benefitting from an innovative and more comprehensive approach to software-defined networking.

Enhanced automated cloud connectivity for greater flexibility. Riverbed SteelConnect now supports AWS Direct Connect and Azure ExpressRoute, providing customers with increased deployment flexibility. With this capability, customers can securely connect to their cloud resources over public internet or dedicated private links for automated cloud connectivity and improved performance through single-click cloud automation.

Unified management of SD-WAN and Wi-Fi. Riverbed SteelConnect SD-WAN now seamlessly integrates with Xirrus Wi-Fi for simple deployment and management of cloud networks. Customers can manage SD-WAN and Wi-Fi together through a centralized cloud console, including zero-touch provisioning of Riverbed Xirrus Wi-Fi Access Points, creation of Wi-Fi networks, and Wi-Fi monitoring.
Supported LTE wireless for maximum reach and connectivity. Riverbed SteelConnect now supports LTE uplinks for a variety of use cases including back-up network connectivity in retail stores, pop-up stores, rural sites, or mobile retail. By leveraging LTE, retailers can maximize reach and productivity while increasing resiliency and agility of the network.

Setting the pace for network innovation in the cloud era. SteelConnect, initially launched as an early access offering in April 2016, is the industry’s first and only product that provides unified connectivity and policy-based orchestration spanning the entire network – LAN/WLAN (including cloud-based Riverbed Xirrus Wi-Fi), WAN, data center and the cloud, with one-click connectivity and optimization into AWS and Microsoft Azure. SteelConnect also enables zero-touch provisioning, allowing an enterprise to set-up a global network and connect to the cloud in minutes, and easy ongoing network management that provides the ability to make network or business/application policy changes with a few clicks of a mouse.

Since the initial launch of SteelConnect, Riverbed has continued a rapid pace of innovation, introducing a broad set of unique capabilities, including integration with SteelCentral for visibility and insight, integration with the market-leading WAN Optimization solution (Riverbed SteelHead SD), and following the strategic acquisition of Xirrus (leading cloud-based Wi-Fi company) in May 2017, enterprise-grade Wi-Fi – bringing the power of policy-based network management out to the wireless edge. SteelConnect also seamlessly integrates with third-party network security services, such as Zscaler’s cloud security platform, to help IT professionals achieve agility, performance and security across the distributed enterprise.