Expand launches pay-as-you-go WAN optimisation

The pay-as-you-go pricing model has found a new adherent. WAN optimisation company, Expand Networks has launched a new pricing structure for service providing enable them to benefit from the flexibility of monthly subscription.

Expand said that the new pricing model would enable service providers to shift costs from CapEx to OpEx, a major motivation at a time when most organisations are trying to limit capital expenditure. But the company claimed that the new offering would do more that change the cost model but could prove benefits in the way that service providers did business.

Adam Davison, corporate VP sales and marketing, Expand Networks, said, "Our approach has been purposely developed to be a true subscription based service as opposed to a deferred CapEx model. By moving from a 'build it and they will come' approach to a customer driven model, we can completely de-risk service providers customer acquisition strategies, only having to invest in a solution as and when they actually sell it."

According to Expand, there are several other features that would benefit service providers and their customers, in particular, the ability to be more flexible with licensing and with maintenance

The Expand products being offered are the Virtual Accelerator (VACC), Accelerator appliance (ACC) and Mobile Accelerator (MACC), all managed by ExpandView Virtual (EVV) and priced on the number of remote connections terminating at the datacentre, bandwidth speed at the branch office and number of concurrent connections for remote clients.

At a time when service providers are looking to be more flexible with their offerings to customers, it makes sense for their suppliers to be more flexible in return. Jim Meltzer, an analyst at Ashton, Metzler & Associates, said that Exapand's move was a demonstration as to how virtualisation was changing the way that service providers were operating.