Unlike Riverbed's byte- or segment-level caching, which is shared across all traffic, Packeteer's Wide Dictionary Compression (WDC) is isolated by traffic type. For example, if I copy a file using CIFS or NFS across the WAN, and then another user FTPs the same file via the same WAN circuit, the FTP does not receive any benefit of my previous file copy. Only on subsequent FTP copies will WDC come into play. Packeteer says this will change in the iShaper 4.0 release, due in Q3 2008, which will share byte-level caching across all traffic types.

The Bottom Line Packeteer iShaper 400 Packeteer, packeteer.com Excellent  8.8 criteria score weight Performance 9 40% Protocol support 9 25% Reporting 9 15% Setup 7 10% Value 9 10% Cost: iShapers start at $12,000 each; $22,000 per 400 appliance (as tested) Platforms: Any TCP/IP network; deeper integration with Windows networks Bottom Line: Packeteer's iShaper provides both WAN acceleration and link optimization by combining the company's iShared and PacketShaper technologies. WAN acceleration is very good, with the best optimization found when accelerating Windows file traffic. Traffic shaping is second to none, with full visibility into Layer 7 for more granular control. On the downside, the device does not drop into the network transparently, but requires routing, and the byte-level cache is not shared across all traffic types and applications. About our Reviews and Scoring Methodology

Recently, both Cisco and Riverbed announced plans to host third-party applications on their appliances. Because of iShaper's Windows Storage Server foundation, it is already poised to provide branch offices with additional services without additional overhead. Services such as local file storage and application and printer sharing are all available as they would be on a Windows server.

Playing favorites
Users of Packeteer's PacketShaper will be happy to know that there is a full implementation of it inside iShaper. All QoS and traffic prioritization tools are there, including application classification and policy enforcement. Traffic shaping takes place in both inbound and outbound directions and is not limited to "port only" classification. iShaper includes more than 600 application definitions to help correctly identify traffic passing through the device and apply the right shaping policy. Traffic moves first through the iShared optimization engine, and then on to PacketShaper, allowing for application specific optimizations and caching to take place before any shaping policies.

I tested the traffic shaping capabilities by creating a series of traffic flows through my appliance pair, and then firing off a unique protected traffic flow. The protected flow was guaranteed 50 percent of the available bandwidth and given a higher priority than the other traffic. In every case, my protected traffic (in this case, a VoIP call) passed through without any problems, even when the link was fully saturated.

One of the best things about iShaper is the single point of administration for both services. I found it relatively easy to navigate between shaping and optimization services from my browser, although the user interface is split into two distinct menu systems. Easy-to-understand dashboards and reports make real-time monitoring of both optimization and traffic flows quick and easy. The Link Utilization graph provides proof that iShaper is exceeding the rated capacity of the circuit; note the 252 percent increase in inbound traffic.

Admins can create a wide range of reports, and iShaper can even export to NetFlow for further analysis. I kept referring back to the Host Analysis report, a real-time graph that showed each host on my WAN and each TCP traffic flow. It was invaluable for identifying my “top talkers” and creating QoS policies. Another fun graph is the Network Performance Summary; those of us who like squiggly lines will refer to this report to see how our WAN is behaving.

Packeteer's iShaper is at its best optimizing CIFS traffic and shaping traffic on the WAN. Its overall optimization and acceleration is right there with the best of them; its CIFS performance is the best I've tested. Reporting too is top notch, and the single point of administration makes it easy to manage the appliance. The WDC library will get a huge boost in the next release when it makes data cached from one traffic type available to all others, providing better overall data reduction.