http://www8.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0818/19eshiva.html
August 19, 1997 6:00 PM ET=20
Shiva tricks TCP/IP into running faster
By Scott Berinato, PC Week Online
=A0 Shiva Corp. on Wednesday will introduce remote access software that can
speed Internet connections without a client hardware upgrade.
PowerSurf uses proprietary technology to fool TCP/IP packets into moving
more efficiently, according to Shiva officials in Bedford, Mass. It also
uses intelligent caching techniques and pre-emptive TCP/IP session setups
to increase performance over analog and ISDN connections as much as 200
percent.
Actual performance gains will vary depending on a Web page's content and
other network congestion beyond the switch, officials noted.
In tests, Shiva claims to have downloaded the National Geographic home page
with a dial-up modem in 40 seconds with PowerSurf activated. That compares
with more than 70 seconds without the technology.
PowerSurf resides in Shiva's LRAS (LANRover Access Switch) Version 5.2 or
higher. Current users of LRAS can upgrade their devices, and all new LRAS
boxes will ship with the PowerSurf software installed, officials said.
Corporations and Internet service providers are eager to deploy any
technology that increases Web performance for client users. However, the
Shiva technology, which will be on display at the Internet Service
Providers Convention trade show this week in San Francisco, will not work
with other companies' switches.
So far, Shiva officials said they have no firm plans to apply PowerSurf to
non-Shiva switches; instead, the company intends to use PowerSurf as a
differentiating feature of its LRAS.
PowerSurf will cost $5,000 per LRAS access server. It is slated to enter
beta testing next month and to ship in mid-November.
--- Rohit Khare /// MCI Internet Architecture (BOS) /// khare@mci.net Voice+Pager: (617) 960-5131 VNet: 370-5131 Fax: (617) 960-1009