As organizations delve into new IT initiatives such as virtualization, private cloud consolidation and cloud computing, they are increasingly realizing the need for more intelligent, business-level visibility solutions that enable them to proactively manage network and application performance. Cascade provides enterprise-wide application performance analysis, data on server and application dependencies, and the tools for IT managers to immediately determine bottlenecks for the delivery of applications across their infrastructure. The new features in Cascade 8.4 allow organizations to measure beyond network performance and availability, and determine the business impact any drops in performance have on end-users. In addition, this release introduces Cascade Sensor-VE for the virtualized Riverbed Services Platform (RSP), enabling seamless performance measurement in both optimized and non-optimized environments -- without requiring expensive physical probes in every branch office.

The new features in Cascade 8.4 will provide customers with a complete WAN optimization solution.

Proactively Monitor End-User Experience

Enhanced Application Performance Metrics

New Cascade metrics go beyond measuring the performance and availability of the network infrastructure, and enable examination of the experience of application users. Using a comprehensive set of performance metrics, Cascade 8.4 measures how fast users can conduct business.

--  Application Throughput -- This metric shows the rate at which application
    data is traversing the network, not including network overhead and
    retransmits.  This feature helps assess the overall performance of the
    application and determine the need for additional optimization.
--  User Connection Throughput -- This metric shows a key proxy for end-user
    experience.  A per-connection throughput measurement, measured only while
    the connection is actively transmitting.
--  Connection Duration -- This metric is leveraged when examining the
    performance of transaction-oriented applications, where a connection
    contains a limited number of application transactions.

By automatically focusing on periods of actual user activity, Cascade measures the true speed a user can achieve when performing application transactions -- therefore, measuring the true experience of the end user. The end user metrics are gathered and sent to Cascade Profiler(TM) for analysis.

Behavioral Analytics

Unlike reactive alternatives, Cascade continuously tracks end-user performance metrics, learning the normal network and application behavior, and proactively alerting the network and application teams whenever end users are experiencing slow performance. Cascade 8.4's behavioral analytics enable the network team to solve problems even before end-users are impacted, and provide a true measurement of the efficiency of the IT infrastructure.

Measure Performance in Optimized Environments

With the growing number of centralized, consolidated private cloud environments, enterprises are having an increasingly difficult time obtaining clear visibility into application performance at the branch office. With Cascade 8.4, Riverbed introduces Cascade Sensor-VE, a virtual remote sensor that runs on the Riverbed Services Platform (RSP), a virtualized partition on the Steelhead appliance. Cascade Sensor-VE takes advantage of the established Steelhead appliance footprint to enable enhanced performance measurement in optimized environments. Deployment with the RSP means that Sensor-VE is optimally located for measuring the end user experience, providing an easy-to-manage solution that eliminates the need for additional hardware at the branch. Cascade Sensor-VE is an optional software-only component that enhances Cascade's flow-based analytics, which operate across optimized and non-optimized branch offices.

Cascade 8.4 and Cascade Sensor-VE are currently available.

For the full release, please visit here.