Packeteer Inc has launched a new version of the wide-area file services, WAFS, technology it acquired when it bought Tacit Networks Inc in May, adding features that take advantage of the fact that the WAFS platform runs on a Windows operating system.

One of the issues raised by competitors after Packeteer acquired Tacit was how it would deal with the fact that its own WAN optimization/app acceleration devices (the PacketShaper range) run on a real-time OS while Tacit’s iShared products run on Windows. Far from promising integration onto a single platform, however, the Cupertino, California-based company said the two portfolios are essentially designed for different purposes. It said PacketShaper goes into a network core, whereas the iShared technology goes into both branch offices and HQ.

That affirmation can perhaps be questioned; after all, PacketShaper may well be optimization the link out to a branch office, just as an iShared platform is, the difference being that WAFS addresses storage-related protocols like CIFS, NFS and MAPI whereas WAN optimization/app acceleration works on HTTP, FTP and others. Nonetheless, Packeteer has decided to make a virtue of necessity with Tacit’s Microsoft reliance, and as such can argue that its WAFS offering has the edge on others (Cisco’s Actona technology, Riverbed and Expand’s DiskSites product) which are on other OSes such as Linux.