Riverbed has announced a significant expansion of its platform with the introduction of new AI-powered observability solutions. These solutions are designed to enhance the capabilities of IT operations teams, providing them with real-time insights into their infrastructure and enabling them to respond more effectively to potential issues.
New AI Capabilities
- Generative AI: Provides instant, context-rich insights for IT professionals by graphically identifying root causes and suggesting remediations.
- Predictive AI: Uses real-time and historical data to predict and avert potential issues.
- Agentic AI: Allows IT teams to incorporate intelligent automation into workflows.
According to Riverbed’s CEO, Dave Donatelli, “Customers want to consolidate observability tools, deploy AI that delivers ROI, and feed their enterprise data repositories. That’s exactly what Riverbed delivers—and our customers rewarded Riverbed with 102% observability bookings growth in Q1 2025. Our platform enables Riverbed to deliver rapid innovation, as showcased in today’s broad slate of new announcements.”
New Data Collecting Modules
Riverbed’s new data collecting modules are designed to eliminate visibility blind spots in IT infrastructure. These modules include:
- Unified Communications performance analysis module: Provides real-time analytics for platforms such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom.
- NPM+ Packet Capture module: Offers advanced diagnostic capabilities in Zero Trust environments.
- Aternity for Intel Thunderbolt and Wi-Fi: Expands visibility to include peripherals attached via these technologies.
These new modules aim to provide real-time insights into IT infrastructure, reducing the incidence of user experience issues and improving overall IT efficiency.
Support for Cloud-Native Environments and Virtual Desktops
Riverbed has also made enhancements to support cloud-native environments and virtual desktops. This includes the integration with platforms like Citrix and VMware, and improvements in Kubernetes deployment efficiency.
This support is designed to enable IT teams to deploy and manage their applications more efficiently, even in complex cloud-native environments.
Platform Architecture and Value
Riverbed’s platform architecture is described as offering a unique value by providing consolidated observability across enterprise IT infrastructures. It is underpinned by the Riverbed Data Store and encompasses observability of applications, networks, and user experiences through Riverbed’s Smart OTel technology to ensure targeted data output.
This unique value proposition enables IT teams to gain a deeper understanding of their infrastructure, respond more effectively to potential issues, and optimize their IT resources more efficiently.
Availability of Solutions
The announced solutions, with the exception of Agentic AI arriving in the second quarter of 2025 and NPM+ Packet Capture set for the third quarter, are available for immediate deployment by enterprise customers.
This rapid deployment capability enables IT teams to quickly respond to changing business needs and improve their overall IT operations.
Real-World Example
To illustrate the potential of Riverbed’s new AI-powered observability platform, let’s consider the case of The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust. The trust recently started using Riverbed’s generative AI solution IQ Assist at the service desk level for troubleshooting.
“We’re excited about Riverbed’s continued investment in AIOps for observability, and new innovations and AI capabilities that are now available on the Riverbed Platform. We recently started using Riverbed’s generative AI solution IQ Assist at the service desk level for troubleshooting, and it’s a great tool to have.
