Riverbed results point to WAN optimisation resilience

Vendor claims customers still buying into its cost-cutting technology as 2008 sales rise 41 per cent

Riverbed has posted buoyant fourth quarter and full-year results which it said confirmed the resilience of the WAN optimisation market in an economic downturn.

The vendor’s share price has rallied after it announced a 41 per cent spike in 2008 revenues to $333m. Fourth quarter sales rose 21 per cent year on year to $92m.

Riverbed banked a Q4 net profit – based on generally accepted accounting principles – of $23.3m, compared to a loss of $12.4m in the same quarter last year. Net profit for the year fell from $14.8m to $10.6m.

The announcement follows a year of frenetic channel expansion for the NASDAQ-listed firm. Now present in 29 countries, Riverbed added 200 channel partners in 2008, bringing its total VAR, system integrator and service provider tally to 800.

Riverbed chief executive Jerry Kenneally said he was “pleased” with the results and claimed that the vendor had executed well in the period.

“Customers continue to make Riverbed a spending priority because our platform - deployed by more than 5,500 customers - optimises performance while cutting costs from the IT infrastructure,” he said.

“We believe the low total cost of ownership and strong return on investment make WAN optimisation a high priority in any spending environment.”