If you were in the D.C. Metro area yesterday, you probably felt a tremble that had quite a few people shaking in their boots – literally.  The U.S.Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed an earthquake hit in central Virginia, measuring 5.8 on the Richter scale.

It was felt throughout the metro area.  While the damage is being assessed to the older government buildings downtown D.C., employees have liberally leave with the option of teleworking.

Now, earthquakes are a rare occurrence in this area but from past incidents like snowmegeddon, many government officials have learned that telework is critical to ensuring that the government continues to run, while ensuring the safety of employees.

While telework options are necessary, it often raises issues on the network.  From bandwidth restraints to performance and security issues, teleworking can cause unwanted issues for agencies that don’t have the don’t have the proper optimization tools in place.

Faced with budget pressures and never enough bandwidth, government agencies are turning to WAN optimization for a less costly, less time-consuming, more effective solution.  It frees up bandwidth and accelerates application by eliminating redundant traffic.

Our government agency customers use our WAN optimization solutions to accelerate files and applications to teleworkers, while also extending an agency’s centrally managed Internet usage policies and malware protection to remote endpoints. This way, when incidents beyond our control occur, our customers do not need the added headaches of network or security issues when a large number of employees work remote.

How did your agency react to the earthquake? Did you see a spike in telework? Tell us your story in the comment section below.