File Transfer Protocol (FTP) is widely used by many companies as a mechanism for transferring large files. One of the primary reasons FTP is used instead of Windows file shares is that FTP is not subject to the delays caused by CIFS – the application protocol used by Windows file sharing. However, even though FTP over TCP performs better than CIFS over TCP, the throughput is still too slow when latency gets high or when bandwidth is limited, or both.

Riverbed Steelhead appliances can accelerate typical large file shares over FTP from five to well over a hundred fold, depending on the file size, network conditions, and the workload generated by the data.

With Steelhead appliances, many companies find that they can use the simpler Windows file sharing method instead of FTP. Steelhead appliances also eliminate the need for specialized file transfer protocols (such as BBFTP) in an effort to deliver higher throughput than FTP.

Whether you rely FTP or Windows file sharing, Steelhead appliances will radically improve the throughput of your WAN.

To find out more, download the FTP Performance Brief.