White Paper

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Optimized E-Mail Protocols and Applications

Cisco WAAS devices automatically discover one another during the establishment of the client

to server connection. No explicit configuration for e-mail optimizations is required, as the WAEs

classify application protocols and apply optimizations automatically based on the application

protocol. Cisco WAAS provides out-of-the-box, preconfigured optimization policies for a number

of e-mail protocols/applications, and facilities to create new policies should an e-mail application

be using non-standard ports or protocols. The e-mail protocols Cisco WAAS automatically

identifies and optimizes includes:

 

Messaging Application Programming Interface (MAPI) used extensively by Microsoft 

Exchange Server and Outlook clients. Cisco WAAS provides optimizations for MAPI and

the various server and client configurations, including cached mode

   Standard e-mail and messaging protocols including Post Office Protocol v3 (POP3), 

Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP), and Internet Message Access Protocol v4 (IMAP4),

Network News Transfer Protocol (NTTP), Quick Mail transfer Protocol (QMTP)

 

Web-based e-mail including Outlook Web Access (OWA) 

 

Other mail systems including Lotus Notes, Notes RPC, and HP OpenMail 

Figure 4 below shows typical improvement found with Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Microsoft

Outlook 2003 (with Cached Mode), and Figure 5 below shows typical improvement found without

cached mode. Both figures depict the send and receive (uploading and downloading both) of a

5MB attachment over a T1 (1.5Mbps) with 80mS of round-trip latency:

Figure 4.    Figure 4. Cisco WAAS Optimization of Microsoft Exchange 2003 and Outlook 2003 

(with Cached Mode)