Aveng deploys Riverbed's Steelheads into Grinaker-LTA operations

Issued by RapidTech
Johannesburg, 11 Jun 2008

Rapid Technologies, a leading WAN optimisation reseller in South Africa, announced that Aveng has purchased and deployed Riverbed's Steelhead appliances to its local and African operations in South Africa.

The decision to buy Riverbed Steelheads from Rapid Technologies:

"The first Steelhead device was implemented in 2005 in Port Harcourt, Nigeria as a POC. After one week, we were sold on it. We could replicate gigabytes of data across a VSAT link on a daily basis and also run our ERP system based in Johannesburg, live in West Africa. Rapid Technologies have been our partner in optimisation since then and still is," says Pieter le Roux, Network Manager, Aveng Africa CIT.

"We will continue to roll out Riverbeds on all crucial WAN links," Le Roux stated.

"The Riverbed devices make consolidation and collaboration a reality for organisations," said Sandy Phillips, Sales and Marketing Director for Rapid Technologies.

"Latency is huge issue on the VSAT links; Riverbed reduces the effects of latency, offering all users in an environment the same experience across the organisation around the world."

"Riverbed devices increase productivity of team members through the data being available faster. IT departments are able to focus on other issues not where more bandwidth is coming from as the Riverbed devices take care of that," said Gawie Basson, GM Technical Division, Rapid Technologies.

Aveng

Pronounced Av-eng (previously Anglovaal Engineering), the group was listed on the JSE in July 1999. Aveng does not have a controlling shareholder, being broadly held by the public and a number of institutional shareowners with approximately 30% owned by international investors.

Aveng boasts a proud South African heritage going back 117 years to a small construction company owned by James Thompson on the corner of Main and Rissik Streets, Johannesburg. The group provides jobs to 28 986 people, 24 488 being employees of the group and 4 498 being labour-only sub-contractors. It has built an international presence, in pursuit of its vision. During the year under review, Aveng worked in 29 countries.

Rapid Technologies Pty Ltd

Based in Sandton, South Africa, Rapid Technologies is a leading provider of WAN optimisation solutions.

The Rapid Technologies core focus is to improve the capabilities of the organisations we work with. Rapid has been delivering the Riverbed Technology to the South Africa market for over three years and is recognised as one of the leaders in the market. Riverbed is the world's leading WAN optimisation technology.

Rapid Technology is an empowerment company with 100% of the company owned by women and PDI individuals. Rapid is focused in the above niche areas and has skills competencies built around delivering service excellence to customers.

Contact www.rapidtech.co.za or 0861 BINARY jenna.opie@rapidtech.co.za.