Solutions That Deliver Satellite Optimization

The popularity of satellite networks is growing as the demand for remote access broadband services continues to grow. This is especially true in rural areas where there is little or no terrestrial communications infrastructure and satellite communications are the only viable option.
 
Satellite links can also provide a unique high-availability option as fail-over links to remote branches or locations. Satellite links are also providing connectivity in situations prone to terrestrial network outages. With so many benefits, there is one downside to satellite connectivity -- the cost.
 
In order to justify the higher cost, organizations must be able to achieve satellite optimization. To achieve this optimization, the technology used is Performance Enhancement Proxy (PEP). This technology can mitigate the effects of latency and help fill the link with data to improve network performance.
 
By installing a pair of PEPs at either rend of a satellite link, each local network is tricked into believing the remote, satellite-linked network is right next door. When PEPs are combined with accelerators to deliver a mix of TCP acceleration, link conditioning, compression, and application-specific acceleration techniques help to increase the performance of applications despite the degraded conditions.
 
This approach also offers extensive caching, compression, and QoS capabilities to overcome congestion and latency to provide the most effective use of the available bandwidth and achieve satellite optimization. Advanced technologies such as packet fragmentation can also be used to reduce the effect of large file transfers and similar applications.
 
By deploying certain accelerators, enterprises can achieve satellite optimization and enhance application throughput significantly in such environments. As one example, in network testing labs, Expand Networks (News - Alert) accelerators were found to help organizations achieve satellite optimization through increased speeds and lower latency, both critical issues for all users.
 
In truth, satellite communications are important to have in place, yet they offer significant network challenges. When demand increases, the limited satellite service availability becomes severely strained, driving the need for satellite optimization technologies and strategies. This is essential in situations where satellite communication is the only connectivity option.
 
By employing rapidly evolving solutions, satellite communications are optimizing through holistic solutions that give users and providers greater control over – and utilization out of – their networks. The company takes a standards-based approach in its technology to combine with next generation compression, caching and conditioning techniques to provide satellite environments with the ability to squeeze the maximum efficiency out of challenging network conditions.