Riverbed sales fly on virtualisation ramp-up
Network infrastructure performance vendor Riverbed Technology has posted record fourth quarter sales figures as WAN optimisation technology began to be recognised as a "critical" element of virtualisation installations.
Sales rose 11% sequentially and 22% year-on-year in the fourth quarter to $112.9m (£70.49m). For the full year to the end of December, sales were up 18% on 2008 to $394.1m.
Unsurprisingly, services and support revenues beat product sales by a country mile, up 42% and 15% respectively.
But despite beating analyst forecasts, Riverbed was not by any means immune to the economic climate, with GAAP net profit falling 83% to $900,000.
Lauding market share gains against Riverbed's major rivals, chairman and CEO Jerry Kennelly said: "We executed well in a difficult economy, achieving strong revenue and profit growth while still advancing our technology."
He added that Riverbed's cornerstone WAN optimisation technology was now "firmly established" as a priority spend in enterprise IT budgets.
