Broadwake Data Acceleration Platform
Broadwake is a digital delivery framework optimized for the rapid development of client/server and p2p applications that can benefit from improved performance, reliability, and security when transferring files and media over broadband connections with measurable latency.
Broadwake is ideal for applications moving large payloads of digital data over consumer and commercial grade networks, including fast file transfer, data tunneling, streaming, and block-level file access scenarios.
At the core of the platform is a low-level packet-based messaging engine that converts digital payloads into optimized packets ideal for high-performance transmission over broadband networks.
Cross Platform
Broadwake is currently supported on most flavors of Windows server and desktop operating systems, Red-Hat, Ubuntu, Suse, and other Linux distros, Mac OS/X Tiger, and Leopard. It has also been compiled and tested on Solaris x86 and FreeBSD platforms.
Acceleration
Broadwake supports three reliable network transport protocols for data transmission and acceleration - standard TCP, a reliable UDP implementation, and Breakthrough's own BTP protocol. Each protocol provides specific benefits.
- TCP - provides a single point to point TCP-based socket connection between nodes. Custom port assignment, as well as communication over port 80 and 443 are supported. It is ideal for use in shared-bandwidth environments over slower broadband connections.
- Reliable UDP - bi-directional UDP-only protocol (does not require a TCP connection to manage reliability), ideal for communication over network pathways with extremely high latency and higher speed, such as intercontinental connections and satellite relay. In cases where adequate bandwidth is available and network latency exceeds 250ms, Broadwake's reliable UDP implementation can perform up to 60-180 times faster than single-socket tcp-based alternatives (i.e., http, ftp).
- BTP - proprietary TCP-based protocol that optimizes packet routing across multiple parallel TCP connections in real-time, delivering an almost linear performance gain over standard TCP by a factor of 10 to 1. BTP delivers seamless outbound connectivity without firewall changes, pushes lower-speed broadband connections to their peak throughput (DSL, cable), and operates reliably in diverse networking environments.
Breakthrough's BTP transport performs equally well across air-to-ground networks, bonded cellular connections, satellite, T1, DS3, OC3, dsl, cable, wi-fi, and multi-gigabit networks.
Encryption and Security
All of Broadwake's supported protocols benefit from in-flight payload encryption and compression as needed. Encryption is based on a FIPS 140-2 compliant AES-256 implementation. In bandwidth starved scenarios where latency is a factor and digital payloads are suitable for compression, enabling this mode can provide a 50-500% improvement in overall throughput.
Collaboration
Although Broadwake has been historically used as a file-transfer framework, the internal workings of the system was designed to support a variety of communication applications including messaging, collaboration, instrumentation, and tunneling. It has built-in support for multi-party chat, supporting rooms, users, banning, private and public communications, and kick functionality.
File Transfer
Broadwake includes a file-transfer engine specifically designed for fast transfer applications. Unlike traditional file transfer protocols such as ftp that rely on a socket-per-file approach, Broadwake maintains a single open connection between client and server allowing multiple files to be transferred in parallel or serially without disconnection. Its packet multiplexing technology allows multiple applications and communication sessions to occur simultaneously, over the same connection, using any protocol. This facilitates the development of robust collaborative applications integrating features such interactive chat, video streaming, and file transfer.
File Integrity
File integrity is one of Broadwake's greatest strengths. Unlike ftp, destination files are never left in an incomplete or corruptable state in the event of an unforeseen disconnection, and its validation technology insures file integrity before allowing the file to become available for access. Interrupted transfers may be resumed at the very next byte, and file date and time stamps are preserved after completion.
Deduplication and File Delta
Broadwake has built-in packet deduplication and delta block detection technology This allows for real-time analysis and change detection at the file level during transmission, reducing traffic over the connection, and increasing overall write throughput at the target destination. Used against applicable file sets, an additional 3-5x performance gain may be realized.
Powered by Breakthrough
Breakthrough has developed a number of stand-alone applications built on the Broadwake platform to address reliable delivery of large files over broadband connections.
- Vault is a robust file and messaging server supporting data acceleration, protocol-agnostic session management, streaming file transfer, random file access, and multiuser concurrency.
- Drive is a virtual disk service providing real-time access to remote files and folders accessible through Vault shares. Aquipt Matterpoint is a customer-developed service offering based on Drive's capabilities.
- Connect is an interactive client supporting connection management, manual and scheduled file transfer operations, and remote administration of Vault and Drive services.
- Image Replication Suite is a bundled application suite providing reliable off-site replication of backup images. It consists of Vault, Link, Copy, Config, Mail, and Service modules to provide enterprise-class security, monitoring, and management of scheduled replication activities. Zenith Infotech leverages the Image Replication Suite for its ARCA business continuity replication features.
- Link is a local administration client used to connect, configure, and monitor Vault and Drive services.
How to Purchase
Breakthrough is currently preparing a new product line for release under the Broadwake banner. The products will consist of Connect, Vault, and through partners, it's Drive appliance technology. For more information about the Broadwake platform, including pricing and availability, please contact Breakthrough.