Significant contribution from its India R&D has helped  global IT infrastructure player, Riverbed to roll out a software-defined  networking solution -- with one foot on ground and the other up in the cloud!
By Vishnu Anand 
Delhi, February 27 2017: While cloud computing has taken over virtually every possible paradigm of technology – both personal and enterprise tech --  one crucial piece of the computing puzzle is still run in the good old wire and plug method. Well, not any more. The networking part  of computing, which till recently involved heavy physical hardware and on-site management, has made its way to the cloud.
Cloud-managed, centralized solution
Riverbed, the global application performance infrastructure company, has recently launched its SteelConnect solution which helps network managers replace manually configured routers with one-click provisioning of routers through a virtual network.
This simply means that you no longer need to plug in WAN devices and routers at every branch location, and assuming you have dozens of them, you do not need to continually monitor them. With Riverbed’s new offering, you have a virtual dashboard that lets you provision, monitor and modify the network at will. With this new software-defined cloud-managed solution, large organizations can expect to save millions of dollars every year just by moving their legacy networks to the cloud.
SteelConnect pretty much works like an application on the cloud. With its zero-touch provisioning capability, SteelConnect provides instant, centralized deployment of the network. Additionally, it reduces friction between the business and IT and provides visibility to both, while ensuring optimized network performance.
A game-changer for emerging Indian companies
In an exclusive interaction  Nagendra Venkaswamy, Vice President, India and South Asia for Riverbed said, “Today, India is the epicentre of digital transformation. The apps+data+people ecosystem will contribute heavily to business growth in the months to come. We are confident that Riverbed’s solutions will be leveraged by both large and emerging businesses in India. Every business aspires for scale and we are able to eliminate the rigmarole of network connectivity from their lives, we are actually helping companies focus on their core business and scale at will.
Indian R&D
While the SteelConnect solution is a global, collaborative brainchild of Riverbed, substantial contribution has been made by Riverbed’s Bangalore R&D centre towards creation of the solution. Riverbed also believes that while it is a global offering, the solution is heavily targeted at India and the Indian subcontinent to ride on the growth that is exhibited by these areas.
Along with SteelConnect, Riverbed has also launched the SteelHead SD – a single-device solution range that combines WAN optimization and helps companies leverage the best of SteelConnect capabilities.