5 Technologies To Watch

Web-based applications, VoIP and video are all in demand. Customers are looking to centralize branch-office resources into the data center for improved management and security, and all of this needs to happen while keeping bandwidth costs in check. Those are just a few of the market trends expected to drive growth in the WAN optimization market in 2006, which is on track to hit more than $380 million this year, on its way to $610 million by 2009, according to research firm IDC.

When paired with application acceleration, the second side of the same coin, the market opportunity grows even bigger. VARs are poised to capitalize on this boom in the coming year, educating customers on the need to tie in the technologies with broader networking, remote application access, backup/disaster-recovery solutions and, in particular, VoIP solutions. “No one notices if e-mail is half-a-second slower, but a VoIP user certainly does,” said Richard Bryer, associate with IT Channel Group, a network integrator in Toronto. “There’s less tolerance.”

With Cisco Systems and Juniper Networks throwing their hat into the ring last year via acquisitions, plus a bevy of startups and others already shifting focus toward the space, WAN optimization is poised for a competitive year, and solution providers will be at the center of the fray.
-- Jennifer Hagendorf Follett