Exinda delivers WAN application assurance for Leo Burnett

As a creative agency with a huge client portfolio, having an efficient network is critical to the daily smooth operation of the agency. Leo Burnett sends large amounts of data across its network in the form of graphics, advertisements, videos and presentations, much of which is often uploaded by FTP for access by clients or third parties. This becomes even more of a challenge in areas where bandwidth is limited or prohibitively expensive.

To improve network performance in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region, Re:Sources - the internal IT department of parent company Publicis - is embarking on a program of standardizing Exinda WAN optimization and application assurance technology across its MEA offices.

Sami Mneimneh, Regional Network & Infrastructure Director, Re:Sources Middle East & Africa, explains, "We first used Exinda in our Beirut office. Beirut is a challenging territory because of high bandwidth costs. We tested the Exinda technology and were very happy with the performance. It was very simple and easy to manage and performance was great from day one. In particular, the improved visibility on links was a bonus."

"Another Exinda test at the Cairo office helped to assure performance of critical applications over non-critical recreational applications and improve network performance without the need to upgrade the Internet connection. The Cairo office was extremely happy with the outcome and so, on the back of those two successful tests in very challenging environments, we decided to standardise our local country MPLS network across the entire region by rolling out Exinda optimization and acceleration technology at all offices," he added.

The first stage of the rollout is complete with Cairo, Beirut and remote offices using a mix of Exinda's 4061 and 4860 solutions.

"Several key applications have been successfully optimized," continues Sami Mneimneh. "We have managed to achieve between 30% - 70% reduction in file transfer time, depending on the file type, plus great improvements in remotely accessing SQL databases which is a critical function across the entire business."

"WAN optimization and application assurance is increasingly important for many enterprises," said Adam Davision, VP EMEA Sales at Exinda. "As enterprise increasingly takes advantage of remote working, and with greater amounts of critical data being transferred across networks, businesses need to ensure that their networks are operating as efficiently as possible and are not being stretched to capacity. Our policy-based WAN optimization intelligently applies acceleration and containment based on the priorities of the business. We are pleased that a business of the caliber and size of Leo Burnett is benefiting from our WAN optimization 2.0 solution."