Make every experience a great one
As branch and remote offices rise become even more pervasive, organizations are rapidly adopting Microsoft Office 365 to lower infrastructure costs and increase flexibility around these distant locations. Users, for the most part, love the portability and easy accessibility of these apps because they can open their secure digital workspace and do their work from anywhere.
The bad news is, these same users often don’t get the performance they’re used to in a traditional office. That’s because many branch locations are still supported by legacy WANs and outdated MPLS connections. These common solutions rely on the “perimeter style” approach to networking, where vital app and data traffic is funneled back through centralized datacenters and subject to latency from inefficient network paths, inspections and other factors.
Fortunately, Citrix and Microsoft have come together to create a more modern and better solution. Like other software-defined WANs, Citrix SD-WAN uses inexpensive Internet connections to route SaaS traffic directly from remote or branch locations to their intended destinations—bypassing the traditional network perimeter and its centralized datacenters.
But that’s where the similarity ends. Citrix and Microsoft have worked closely together for more than 20 years. As part of this commitment, Citrix provides support for the Microsoft Office 365 Connectivity Principles to help ensure optimal user experiences.
What does this mean? Basically, it enables Citrix SD-WAN users to tap into Microsoft’s worldwide network of 130+ edge nodes and get Autobahn-style traffic routing for your Office 365 traffic!
How it works is simple. Citrix SD-WAN identifies and prioritizes Office 365 traffic and redirects it automatically to the nearest Office 365 “front door” (versus a regional Microsoft data center). Since these 130+ entry points don’t need to be where back-end Office 365 servers are, they can be as close to your individual office locations as possible to provide the optimal network performance.
For your users, this translates into dramatically faster performance for Office 365 apps. In fact, at a recent Microsoft Ignite conference, Citrix SD-WAN customers were reporting performance improvements like:
That’s an experience that everyone wants. And you can give it to them…if you have a modern network. To learn more about how you can deliver the ultimate Office 365 experience for your branch-office and other remote users, take a look at our solution guide. Download it here.
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