Sparked by strong revenue growth in services and 500 new customers, Riverbed Technology reported revenue grew 21% in the first quarter to $88.5 million, and that it expects second-quarter revenue to be up by 13%-15% year over year. Emboldened by that success, Riverbed execs also told analysts they're beating Cisco "nine out of 10 times" even as Cisco and others offer discounts of 80% or more."We said this before that in the past we have had to compete with companies like Cisco in deals where they're going down to 80% off and in some cases even free bundling it in with the router and still we're able to compete because ultimately you got to get the value out of the project," Riverbed senior VP of marketing Eric Wolford said in a conference call with securities analysts, according to the transcript on Seeking Alpha.

Chairman and CEO Jerry Kennelly also took direct aim at Cisco with this comment:

"And anecdotally I'll just add when I go out and visit really big Fortune 100-size companies, you walk in and there is - I'm used to it in the past having to spend the first 10 minutes explaining why we beat [Cisco] and now I walk in the first minute they say no, no, we know Riverbed is the best, let's just get on with the discussion. So, that sort of intense comparison type thing is starting to fade a bit in the market. Our superiority and leadership is just becoming sort of taken for granted even with the biggest companies."

Addressing Riverbed's core business, Kennelly said the company's strong performance and outlook prove that CIOs are still finding great value in effective WAN-optimization solutions. And in a broader sense, Kennelly said, Riverbed is addressing what has perhaps become CIOs #1 concern - as we here at Global CIO call it, Lowering The Cost Of Infrastructure.

Among the 500 new customers Riverbed acquired in the first quarter were a top 10 company from the Forbes Global 100; two of the largest global insurance companies; and a well-known media company with annual revenue "in the tens of billions," Kennelly said, adding that 54 of the Forbes Global 100 are now Riverbed customers.