Riverbed SteelFusion 4.0 enables zero IT at the branch

Riverbed SteelFusion 4.0 claims to be the first and only hyper-converged infrastructure, which makes this possible. We try to decode SteelFusion 4.0 and its benefits for organizations struggling with branch IT management in an interaction with Paul Coates,  Vice President, APAC and Japan, Riverbed Technology. Excerpts

T ell us more about Steel Fusion 4.0 and how it works.

Riverbed SteelFusion 4.0 is the first and only hyper-converged infrastructure for the branch of the future. SteelFusion 4.0 enables zero IT at the branch by virtualizing and consolidating 100% of data and servers from remote sites into datacenters, centralizing data security and IT management without losing the benefits of running branch services locally. It enables organizations to remove all servers, storage, and backup from remote sites—and by doing this, it gives them the agility to instantly provision new services and apps, and to recover data in minutes versus days. This also means data security and control with full visibility, ensuring business continuity. You can think of it this way: SteelFusion 4.0 is essentially like a smartphone for the business: A thin, small device that has access to all the apps and data of the Internet and cloud. The latest version of SteelFusion was redesigned to deliver increased performance and scalability for remote sites and regional hubs of all sizes, and includes new features that support business continuity, ensuring that all branch data is accessible across private and hybrid cloud environments, and providing the ability to withstand and recover from datacenter failures with zero downtime.

What is the main rationale behind SteelFusion? How does it help optimize datacenter processes? Branches are the front lines of business with increasing IT needs. Introducing more IT complexity and infrastructure isn’t the answer to delivering customer-centric business. At Riverbed, we believe there is a need to rethink branch IT. Consider this: An average of over 50% of enterprise employees are based at branch offices (remote sites, job sites, stores, manufacturing plants, etc). This means if branch applications don’t perform, branch workers can’t work and business is lost with direct impact to the top and bottom line. Additionally, branch offices, remote locations, and store fronts are critical for local customer engagement, but they require IT staff to support many islands of infrastructure that are costly and inefficient to maintain and yet necessary to meet local performance and reliability needs. Another key rationale behind SteelFusion is data security. Nearly 50% of the company data and intellectual property still lives outside the datacenter, leaving it unprotected, open to compromise, and data breaches. Backup processes are cumbersome and data recovery is time-consuming or even futile without qualified IT staff at most branches, not to mention the challenges of provisioning new services or applications in an agile world. SteelFusion changes the game so that enterprises can rethink branch IT. It extends the full power, security, and resiliency of the datacenter out to each branch site. It consolidates 100% of data and servers out of branches and into the datacenter.

For what type of organizations is SteelFusion most advantageous? Can you cite some examples? We’re seeing strong interest from various industries including retail, manufacturing, pharma, engineering, and law firms. A great example is Weatherford, one of the largest global oil and gas service providers and a beta user of SteelFusion 4.0. It has experienced significant benefits from a zero IT approach. Weatherford’s operations cover oil rigs and offshore locations where any disruption or unavailability of applications on site would result in loss of production time. With Riverbed SteelFusion, Weatherford was able to optimize datacenter processes and eliminate file servers, storage, and other backup processes which require its IT teams to be dispatched to remote locations. This has enabled focused production on site with peace of mind that data is secured at their datacenter.

In what way it impacts IT budgets for enterprises? A typical datacenter serves 55 branches—a key contributor to more than $4 bn annual spent on remote office infrastructure and maintenance, according to IDC. As I mentioned earlier, supporting the many islands of infrastructure, synonymous with traditional branch IT, is both costly and inefficient to maintain. On top of it, backup processes are cumbersome and data recovery can be time consuming or even futile, not to mention the challenges of provisioning new services in an agile world. These activities, and others that support branch IT operations, consume 50% of IT budgets. With SteelFusion serving as the infrastructure for the branch, organizations can slash IT costs by eliminating the need to purchase, maintain, and backup servers in branch offices. A few other benefits that fuel cost savings include mitigating the risk of branch disasters, improving IT’s responsiveness to the business, and the deployment of innovative architectures that provide organizations with a competitive advantage.

How does it help mitigate security risks?

With the volume of data created and stored outside the central datacenter continuing to grow significantly, CIOs are actively looking for ways to mitigate risks and simplify the challenge of data security and centralization, while achieving optimal productivity at branch locations. SteelFusion 4.0 eliminates the risk associated with having business data and intellectual property scattered across islands of remote and dispersed branch locations by housing company data where it belongs—in the secure datacenter. SteelFusion secures and protects all branch data in the datacenter, while delivering local performance and availability at the branch.