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posted on 06 March 2008 09:01

Brisbane, Aust. – March 4, 2008 – Packeteer® (NASDAQ: PKTR), the global leader in WAN application performance solutions, today announced that Thiess, a leading integrated engineering and services provider in Australia and South East Asia, has consolidated data storage from 40 sites around Australia to a central data centre using Packeteer's iShared® solution.

With iShared, Thiess is able to centrally back up critical data, achieving consistent compliance with its information management policies while experiencing no loss in application performance across the WAN.

At most sites, the iShared solutions run alongside Packeteer's PacketShaper® WAN optimization appliances installed progressively since 1999. The joint deployment of iShared and PacketShaper solutions delivers "intelligent" application optimization and acceleration to Thiess's distributed office network. Seamless integration between PacketShaper and iShared appliances combine to consolidate storage while delivering improved end user response times and reliability with lower bandwidth costs.

"We needed to ensure more reliable application delivery to each site while implementing a more consistent data management plan and more consistent governance," said Richard Moran, Infrastructure Manager for Thiess. "Project sites can be a difficult environment from an IT perspective. We found that managing backups at site offices had been an administrative and support headache, making it difficult to guarantee compliance. Multiple copies of data around the country have also led to problems with consistency and version control."

Data generated by nearly 1,200 staff members at site offices around Australia is now securely maintained at Thiess's Brisbane data centre. Through Packeteer's iShared solution, Thiess has ensured that users can continue to access their data as quickly and easily as if it were stored locally, even though it may be stored thousands of kilometres away.

The Packeteer iShared solutions have also enabled significant performance and productivity improvements for Thiess's staff. Staff can now access their data centrally regardless of which site office they are working from. Previously, project data was stored at the site office where it was generated, creating problems for staff that moved between offices. Staff often traveled between offices for no other reason than to be able to access their data.

"A number of our projects have multiple site offices but, given bandwidth restrictions, you couldn't easily share data between the offices," said Moran. "Prior to iShared, the most common solution was traveling between sites. It could take you days to get to the site and back, just to do half an hour's work. With iShared, when you start up at a new office you have access to all the data you had at your other office. Now people will only travel between offices when they really have to."

Thiess's staff, who specialize in a particular discipline, can now store all their data in one logical location, making relevant information much easier to find and access. This also allows teams to collaborate on projects without having to create ad hoc solutions to their data storage problems.

"iShared supports the same view of data at all sites, so you can now store data according to disciplines," said Moran. "That is exciting; people can streamline and reorganize the business in ways that were not previously possible."

In an unexpected benefit, performance has also improved for corporate applications accessed via the company's network. Compliance with document management policies has improved, as there is now no performance penalty in storing information centrally versus onsite. Even wide area network applications such as Web browsing perform faster.

"When we put iShared to the test it worked better than we had hoped," said Moran. "At many sites, the net effect was an increase in apparent bandwidth. We expected a more significant penalty for file services, but that never even materialized."

Thiess's iShared and PacketShaper deployment was facilitated by Packeteer's partner Dimension Data that helped with the pilot installation and technical consultation.

"The consolidation of remote storage into a core data centre provides a single point of management and virtually eliminates data integrity risks," said George Atrash, general manager, connectivity at Dimension Data. "Achieving these benefits while maintaining exceptional data access response times and optimal application performance over the wide area network requires solutions such as those offered by Packeteer."

For future green field sites, Thiess is evaluating Packeteer's new iShaper™ solution which combines iShared and PacketShaper technologies in a single branch office box to create the industry's first comprehensive Windows-based branch office IT solution.

"At the moment, the PacketShaper and the iShared work individually to solve specific issues," said Moran. "In future deployments using iShaper, they will work as one unit. For Thiess, that means tighter integration, less equipment onsite and easier deployment."

About Packeteer
Packeteer is the global leader in WAN Application Delivery. Packeteer's solutions provide an intelligent, unified and adaptive approach to monitor, shape, and optimize applications, delivering the best user experience for any application to any location. For more information, contact Packeteer at +1 408 873-4400 or visit the company's Website at http://www.packeteer.com