That's why G&T Conveyor Co., which has baggage-handling systems in more than 400 airports on three continents, started using a WAN optimization appliance from Riverbed Technology Inc. at remote sites to help it communicate with its main office. The Riverbed Steelhead WAN optimization appliances have saved the Tavares, Fla.-based company money and greatly increased its data transfer speeds.

The issue for G&T surrounds its use of a "portable office" of sorts that comes with a mini data center that sends data to remote sites for 12 to 18 months while the company installs new baggage-handling systems at airports, according to George Tilmon, supervisor of IT operations. The portable office has a firewall, switches, and other hardware, as well as the Steelhead appliance.

"The problem we were trying to solve was collaboration," Tilmon said. The company has to send large AutoCAD mechanical engineering files and project schedules from project management applications such as Microsoft Project or Primavera from Primavera Systems Inc.

"The challenge was that project managers on-site in remote locations were being challenged keeping management informed because of a delay," Tilmon said.

G&T uses two sizes of the Steelhead appliance, with the two US$5,500 models in Dallas and Tavares supporting T1 lines and a $3,500 model in Minneapolis supporting a DSL connection, Tilmon said.