Citrix Branch Repeater Enterprise Edition, WAN links up to 2 Mbps
The branch is often the public face of the enterprise. Retail, financial services, healthcare, education, and government sectors rely on the branch to serve customers. Enterprises wishing to offer better customer service and achieve higher branch user productivity increase the dependence of their branches on information technology. IT administrators are challenged to meet the needs of the ever-growing population of branch IT users while pursuing infrastructure optimization initiatives that centralize applications, data, and servers to lower IT operating costs and meet data security mandates. And IT consolidation initiatives that reduce the cost of servicing branches can impose a productivity penalty on branch users due to the realities of the modern Wide Area Network (WAN). At one time, the branch WAN link carried only static enterprise data on a dedicated circuit. Today it must support rich enterprise applications in the often-hazardous conditions caused by the proliferation of Internet-based WAN services.
And if all local servers are removed, the branch can become a desert island during WAN outages.
Citrix Branch Repeater Enterprise Edition, a comprehensive branch solution, can optimize application delivery from Citrix Delivery Center and beyond, while simultaneously providing key native Windows® branch infrastructure services. Paired with Citrix WANScaler™ appliances in the data center, Citrix Branch Repeater, Enterprise Edition can optimize the staging of application data and speed dynamic data over the WAN to deliver on the promise of the fully productive branch.
Staging application data
Application Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) can be dramatically reduced with Citrix XenApp™ client-side application virtualization, also known as application streaming. Combining the benefits of centralized application deployment with local application isolation and support for offline operation, application streaming brings more applications to more users. Citrix Branch Repeater, Enterprise Edition can stage streamed applications in the branch, speeding application installation and maintenance.
WAN optimization
Citrix Branch Repeater includes proven WAN optimization capabilities that automate all WAN
acceleration mechanisms based on real-time application traffic and network conditions — without
complex manual or static configurations. WAN optimization minimizes the impact of latency on
application performance and maximizes WAN capacity, with adaptive TCP flow control to mitigate TCP performance penalties from packet loss and re-transmission. Citrix Branch Repeater offers industry-leading compression technology to reduce link congestion, increase data throughput and accelerate application response. Citrix’s unique multi-level compression selects optimal compression methods based on network load conditions, WAN bandwidth and traffic type. Immediate detection and optimization of application protocols such as CIFS, FTP, NFS and HTTP mitigate protocol inefficiencies by proxying client-server handshakes, reducing protocol chattiness, and optimizing payload. Faster application response times and better bandwidth utilization result. Congested link conditions can be easily managed with Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms, including ICA®-aware QoS for ensuring the performance of Citrix XenApp and Citrix XenDesktop™.
Local branch services
Branch infrastructure optimization initiatives often include server, application and data consolidation. Citrix Branch Repeater can act as the “last server” in the branch by delivering required branch IT infrastructure services such as file serving, print serving, authentication, authorization, and core network services such as DHCP and DNS, all provided by the industry’s most reliable and interoperable operating system: Microsoft® Windows Server®.
Enterprise class features
Powerful Windows management mechanisms
IT infrastructure optimization requires centralized management. Citrix Branch Repeater, Enterprise Edition offers Windows Management Interface (WMI) providers for WAN optimization functionality that work in parallel with WMI providers for the operating system. The result is comprehensive, centralized management of branch service infrastructure. Using solutions such as Microsoft System Center Operation Manager, an entire enterprise network of Citrix Branch Repeaters can be centrally and seamlessly managed. Consummate management flexibility is available using WMI scripting under Windows PowerShell™.
Flexible deployment options and network transparency
For deployment flexibility, Citrix Branch Repeater can join the branch network with in-line, policy-based routing or WCCP (Web Cache Communication Protocol) modes. Branch Repeater is transparent to both applications and the network. All accelerated application traffic flows traverse the WAN without intrusive tunneling technology, which can obscure vital IP and TCP header information. If inline deployment and high availability requirements demand it, Citrix Branch Repeater is available in configurations including a Bypass Network Interface Card (NIC) that provides continuous access to the WAN in the unlikely event of an appliance offline state.
Adaptable to changing business requirements
Citrix Branch Repeater is available in several models and bandwidth upgrades allow for branch and
resulting network bandwidth growth. Branch Repeater may be augmented with customer-installed
management and security agents. Check www.citrix.com/branchrepeater for information on currently supported agents. For the enterprise branch using the World Wide Web for business processes, the Web Caching module of the Microsoft Internet Security and Acceleration (ISA) Server is available as an option for Citrix Branch Repeater, Enterprise Edition.
