Ipanema Technologies has updated its AppsWork performance guarantee service, which SMBs use to "take full advantage of on-premise and cloud-based applications." Distributed exclusively through Ingram Micro to the distributor's network of resellers and systems integrators, the latest version of AppsWork includes new features for WAN optimization that, according to the company,  will accelerate traffic over the WAN while still maintaining critical application performance.

AppsWork launched in April in the United States as part of the Ingram Micro Cloud Marketplace. According to Ipanema, SMBs in a broad range of verticals increasingly have shown interest in the technology, which enables customers to guarantee application performance using the WAN while also addressing concerns about the end-user experience, reliability and costs associated with on-premise and cloud-based business applications.

The update is an incremental increase in the ability to accelerate applications over the WAN, a feature SMBs are likely to use in locations where large files are exchanged using specific protocols, according to Ipanema. The updated feature mitigates the impact of delay for "chatty" applications, but the real benefits of the update are related to increased available bandwidth and reduced application transfer time.

"The added WAN optimization functionality in Ipanema’s new AppsWork technology helps to address the network application performance priorities of SMBs across a broad range of markets in the U.S.,” said Renée Bergeron, vice president of managed services and cloud computing at Ingram Micro North America, in a prepared statement.

The service is being sent across the pond to Ingram Micro EMEA to be distributed to resellers and integrators in the United Kingdom.

AppsWork leverages a local appliance with cloud-based services to increase application performance — an attempt to solve a problem many customers are facing as they shift more and more of their IT and applications to the cloud.

"Our recent research, 'Killer Apps 2012,' showed us that applications were experiencing significant performance problems and lack of visibility on which applications are used and for which performance," said Rogier van der Wal, Ipanema's vice president of Cloud Services, in a prepared statement.