Precision Disc Castings Deploys Expand To Solve WAN Latency Impacting Citrix Performance; Expand Accelerators Speed Up Foxpro Remote Access Over Citrix By 100 percent

READING, U.K.--March 21, 2005--Expand Networks, a leading provider of Application Traffic Management solutions for the branch office, announced today that Precision Disc Castings has deployed the Expand Accelerator 4800 Series to address WAN latency that was degrading the performance of the company's Foxpro application, remotely accessed via Citrix thin clients.

Precision Disc Castings is one of Europe's leading integrated producers of automotive brake discs and drums. The company has offices in Northern and Southern England and the Czech Republic. As part of the company's business expansion, Precision Disc Castings increased the number of staff at its remote branch locations.

"Our WAN just could not cope with the increasing number of Citrix user sessions," noted Ray Courtney, Head of Networking at Precision Disc Castings. "My phone would ring off the hook with staff complaining about how long it took to access Foxpro and complete a transaction. They were frustrated with the 10-20 second Citrix response time lags and applications freezing when they tried to type, point or click."

To solve the WAN latency problem, Precision Disc Castings evaluated both a bandwidth upgrade and a QoS appliance but found neither solution compelling. "A bandwidth upgrade would increase WAN capacity; however, that does not always solve latency caused by chatty protocols. In addition, a QoS-only appliance would not give us the additional bandwidth to provision for future growth," continued Mr. Courtney.

Expand's distribution partner Interquad, which also markets and supports the Citrix product line, introduced the Expand Accelerators as a viable option to Precision Disc Castings. "Through our highly skilled reseller network, Interquad has developed solid experience in providing joint Citrix and Expand solutions to speed up application delivery to remote branch offices," commented Sean Fane, Managing Director at Interquad.

Precision Disc Castings deployed Expand Accelerators in all their branch locations, which sped up Foxpro remote access via Citrix by 100 percent and doubled WAN capacity on their existing network. "When the angry users stopped ringing - I knew the Expand Accelerators were a winner," concluded Mr. Courtney.

"Expand continues to lead the way in delivering world-class branch office application acceleration for Citrix powered networks," commented Adam Davison, head of Expand Networks' EMEA operations. "We are proud to add Precision Disc Castings to the list of 500+ enterprises that have integrated Expand Accelerators strategically into their Citrix deployments to leverage Citrix's feature-rich capabilities."

About Expand Networks

Expand Networks is a leading provider of Application Traffic Management solutions for the branch office. The company's Accelerators take Application Traffic Management to the next level by employing a modular and intelligent application architecture that eliminates complexities associated with traditional traffic management solutions. The Accelerators automatically adapt to changes in traffic, remove WAN inefficiencies and maximize the performance of distributed enterprise applications. The Accelerators combine many unique features including next-generation WAN compression, application-specific acceleration, Layer 7 QoS and sophisticated monitoring and reporting. Expand has shipped over 20,000 Accelerator devices to more than 1,000 customers including Motorola, Continental Airlines and the United States Department of Defense. Expand Networks is headquartered in Roseland, New Jersey with offices in Australia, Germany, Israel, Italy, Singapore, South Africa, United Kingdom and throughout the United States. To learn more, visit www.expand.com or call +1 (888) 892-1250.

Expand Networks, Accelerator System 9000, Accelerator Server, Accelerator 6800 Series, Accelerator 4800 Series, Accelerator 4000 Series, Accelerator 1800 Series, HTTPS Accelerator Series and ExpandView are trademarks of Expand Networks. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.