Technologies: WAN Optimization

  • Universal data store with de-duplication
  • WAN link compression
  • Protocol-specific optimization

Cisco Meraki’s WAN optimization uses a combination of techniques to cut bandwidth consumption between branches and accelerate application performance by up to 209X. WAN optimization is included with every MX Security Appliance and is enabled with just two clicks.

WAN Optimization Bandwidth Chart

Universal data store with de-duplication

A universal data store optimizes caching of data that needs to be transferred across the WAN by eliminating redundant data at the byte level and storing only the unique information needed represent data requested by users. A data redundancy elimination (DRE) algorithm identifies byte streams transferred in previous sessions and determines how much data needs to be transferred across the WAN. MXs include WAN optimization storage of up to 4 TB, enabling maximum WAN optimization for branches that have high inter-site bandwidth demands.

WAN link compression

Link compression accelerates WAN link performance, even for data that is not yet stored in the WAN optimization cache. Each peer-to-peer VPN link between branches is automatically compressed when WAN optimization is enabled.

Protocol-specific optimization

Beyond optimizing all TCP traffic, protocol-specific algorithms accelerate applications known to be particularly sensitive to high latency or slow bandwidth links. CIFS/SMB, FTP, and HTTP are optimized to reduce protocol inefficiencies, such as chattiness and round trip acknowledgement delays. WAN optimization can be limited to certain IP ranges and ports, and specific traffic can be excluded from optimization.