Faced with flat or reduced IT budgets, many IT organizations are looking to cut costs by consolidating datacenters and driving greater adoption of desktop and application virtualization. To help achieve these objectives, WAN optimization addresses common issues that occur when remote IT users access centralized computing resources over high latency or low bandwidth connections. WAN optimization continues to be a hot technology investment in today’s economic climate because of its immediate hard dollar savings and short payback period. Citrix Branch Repeater is a WAN optimization solution that provides unparalleled ROI benefits – especially for existing Citrix customers. Branch Repeater provides four tangible ROI benefits for organizations that are delivering virtual desktops and applications over the WAN:

1. Bandwidth savings

Telecom spending accounts for 15 to 20 percent of IT budgetsⁱ. For organizations with a large number of branch offices, a significant portion of that spending goes to operate the company’s WAN infrastructure. Transaction-heavy applications and rich media clog the WAN, slowing performance and worker productivity, which causes companies to buy more and more bandwidth.  Branch Repeater reduces current bandwidth consumption of all TCP-based applications including XenApp, by 50 to 95 percent through advanced caching and compression technology. Using these technologies, enterprises can often defer WAN bandwidth upgrades by more than two yearsⁱⁱ.

2. Server consolidation savings

A recent Citrix survey found that more than half of customers had multiple servers in their branch offices. Such servers often host local application instances or provide basic file, print or network services. Customers can realize significant cost savings in the areas of server hardware, software, maintenance, storage and power by consolidating branch servers into centralized datacenters and virtualizing desktops or applications. Branch Repeater enables branch server consolidation by mitigating the effects of distance, for example, latency, on application performance, which enables IT to deliver LAN-like performance to users over the WAN. For essential services that must remain in the branch office, Branch Repeater with Windows Server combines the functionality of a branch office server with WAN optimization.

3. Help desk savings

Industry metrics show that an average help desk call costs approximately $20 USDⁱⁱⁱ. Calls related to WAN application performance can cost significantly more due to the complex troubleshooting needed to identify the problem. Branch Repeater dramatically reduces the number of performance-related help desk calls by providing a LAN-like application experience to branch office users. Branch Repeater has been demonstrated to accelerate XenApp performance by up to five times while speeding other, more troublesome applications such as file sharing, Exchange e-mail and SharePoint by more than 30 times. For instance, one customer has seen a 15 percent drop in total help desk calls since deploying Branch Repeater.

4. Productivity gains

In addition to the hard dollar savings described above, Branch Repeater provides measurable, soft ROI benefits by boosting worker productivity. Slow and unreliable application performance hinders one’s ability to accomplish work quickly and efficiently. With Branch Repeater, workers spend more time using the application instead of waiting for it. A recent Citrix performance report shows that Branch Repeater can deliver a productivity improvement of up to 7 percent for remote and mobile workers during periods of heavy IT usage and collaboration.

Want to see how these benefits add up for your organization?

Try the Branch Repeater ROI calculator.

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ⁱIDC, Remote Branch of the Future, March 2008
ⁱⁱGartner, Ten Ways to Cost Optimize Your WAN, August 2009
ⁱⁱⁱGartner, IT Key Metrics Data, Help Desk Metrics Summary Report 2008