* FastSoft’s approach requires just one device per connection
For every technology veteran that sets its sights on the WAN optimization market, there’s a start-up with similar aspirations.
In the last couple of newsletters I’ve talked about Cisco’s momentum in the market. The network giant has secured 1,000 customers since launching its Wide Area Applications Services (WAAS) suite 10 months ago, and it recently overtook Riverbed as the leading provider under consideration for WAN data compression and acceleration technologies, according to research network TheInfoPro.
At the other end of the spectrum of vendors looking to speed up the WAN is FastSoft, a privately funded start-up founded by researchers from California Institute of Technology (Caltech).
FastSoft early this month started shipping an appliance designed to speed up IP WAN links and reduce file transfer times via a technology the company calls FastTCP.
FastTCP tackles limitations inherent in the TCP. TCP requires an acknowledgement that each packet sent has been received before sending the next, and it slows down when it encounters packet loss — often throttling back transmissions more than necessary. FastTCP is designed to get around that issue by controlling queuing delay, the company says, so that Web traffic sees very little latency and response time is improved.
The company says its new Aria appliances are suited for any organization that needs to transfer large files over the WAN, particularly if a network experiences greater than 0.1% packet loss, links are larger than 5Mbps, files cannot be compressed, and required throughput is greater than 100Mbps.
One distinct thing about FastSoft’s technology is that enterprises only have to install one Aria box per connection rather than positioning gear at both ends of a WAN link. This setup could make sense for situations where it is not practical to purchase end-point devices for every site where files are received, such as a company with dozens of distributed sites that access content from a central location over the WAN.
Based in Monrovia, Calif., FastSoft was founded by Caltech researchers Steven Low and Cheng Jin, who worked with the school’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) to bring the FastTCP technology out of the laboratory and into the market. In June FastSoft announced it completed a $4 million round of private equity funding led by Miramar Venture Partners.
