14-05-2025
Riverbed Unveils Advanced SteelHead Solutions with RiOS 10
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Riverbed has announced a major update to its acceleration portfolio, introducing ten new Riverbed SteelHead solutions powered by the next-generation RiOS 10 software. The launch marks the company's most comprehensive acceleration release in seven years, aimed at enhancing enterprise network performance, security, and agility.
According to Riverbed, the new offerings support the movement of enterprise data across connected clouds, data centers, and the edge. The solutions are available via the new Riverbed Flex subscription, which offers greater architectural freedom, license portability, and improved total cost of ownership.
The company stated that network demand continues to rise, with data volumes growing by 35% annually. A recent ESG report noted that 91% of IT leaders now consider AI a major factor in network planning, operations, and acceleration.
Dave Donatelli, CEO of Riverbed, commented that AI and data-intensive applications are driving new demands for network performance. He reported that the company's acceleration business saw 59% year-over-year bookings growth in Q1. He added that the new SteelHead solutions will help customers move data faster, optimize application performance, and increase resilience.
Riverbed also unveiled the SteelHead 90 Series appliances, built to deliver resilient performance and security. The new RiOS 10 software includes updates such as post-quantum cryptography and confidential computing, improving data delivery across cloud and edge environments.
Key features include: SteelHead 8090 : Delivers up to 60 Gbps optimized WAN throughput, supporting multiple 100 GB network interfaces.
: Delivers up to 60 Gbps optimized WAN throughput, supporting multiple 100 GB network interfaces. SteelHead 6090, 4090, and 2090: Offer throughput options from 20 Gbps to 200 Mbps, targeting mid-scale data centers and edge deployments.
Chalan Aras, SVP and GM of Acceleration at Riverbed, said network congestion is now a serious threat to business continuity. He emphasized that the new SteelHead solutions are built to handle growing data volumes while maintaining agility and performance.
In addition, SteelHead Virtual, compatible with VMware ESXI, KVM, and Microsoft Hyper-V, is now available for private cloud environments. Riverbed also introduced SteelHead RS, a new software for edge computing that enables near real-time data sync between edge and data center environments.
The company reported that SteelHead Cloud, also powered by RiOS 10, is now supported on AWS, Microsoft Azure, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, and Google Cloud Platform. It offers up to 20 Gbps data movement, significantly improving application delivery speed and reducing cloud costs.
Riverbed's new Flex subscription allows customers to shift licenses across hardware, virtual, and cloud platforms. This model supports dynamic scaling and hardware upgrades as new technologies become available.
Jim Frey, Principal Analyst at ESG, noted that AI workloads are increasing the importance of network optimization. He said Riverbed's latest offerings directly address the evolving performance, security, and observability needs of enterprise IT.
Riverbed confirmed that these enhancements reinforce its mission to help enterprises adapt to data growth and the demands of AI with high-performance, secure, and flexible network acceleration.
