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Accelerator Solution for Service Providers

What business models does Propel offer?

Why is Propel the best acceleration and network optimization solution for my IT infrastructure?

How Does Propel help increase retention?

How does Propel help increase revenue?

How can Propel optimize my network?

How much do we need to invest to get started?

What resources do I need to set-up, maintain and support Propel Accelerator?

What are the server requirements to host Propel?

What is Propel Complete?

What is the Propel Data Center?

What will my subscribers receive with Propel Complete?

Why offer Propel to my subscribers?

What is Propel Self-Hosted?

How is Propel Self-Hosted installed?

How is Propel Self-Hosted Deployed?

How is Propel Self-Hosted Managed?

How does Propel Self-Hosted Authenticate?

What is Propel Accelerator?

On what types of sites does Propel work best?

How does Propel Accelerator work?

What is Dynamic Imaging?

How does compression affect data use?

What content type is accelerated?

What content type is not accelerated?

What are the end-user System Requirements?

 

What Business Models does Propel Offer?

Propel Complete is our fully hosted solution where Propel maintains your service in our carrier-grade data center. All you have to do is distribute the client software to your subscribers and market your new service – we do the rest.

Propel Self-Hosted is the solution that allows you the control to host your own acceleration servers. We supply the client and server software and provide the necessary technical assistance to your team during the installation process.

Why is Propel the best acceleration and network optimization solution for my IT infrastructure?

Propel’s advanced compression and optimization technology improves the Internet experience while reducing your bandwidth cost. Propel can be deployed using servers hosted by Propel, or in using servers hosted by you. Propel Accelerator server software offers:

• Highest concurrent user capacity per server in their class
• High scalability
• Built-In Load Balancing
• Global Traffic Balancing
• Carrier-Class Reliability
• Monitoring Features


All of these features mean you experience the lowest initial capital expense as well as the lowest ongoing IT operational costs available in the market.

How Does Propel help increase retention?

Providing Propel Accelerator will increase subscriber satisfaction by providing a faster and more positive Web surfing experience. Happier subscribers in turn result in less churn and a more stable revenue stream while also maintaining a migration path for your other Internet services.

How does Propel help increase revenue?

A faster and more positive surfing experience, as provided by Propel Accelerator, will increase revenue by increasing subscriber online time and their exposure to your other value-added services.

How can Propel optimize my network?

Propel’s compression technology reduces the amount of data transmitted over your network by 70% to 90%. This optimizes your network by reducing bandwidth requirements, increasing network capacity and enhancing your network’s throughput and efficiency.

How much do we need to invest to get started?

One of the many strengths of Propel Accelerator is the low implementation cost. If you choose Propel Complete, you pay a one-time set-up fee then a low, monthly service fee. For Propel Self-Hosted, you pay a one-time set-up fee, purchase any servers needed to host the service, and a low monthly service fee. If you already have the servers required, then this cost will not be incurred.

What resources do I need to set-up, maintain and support Propel Accelerator?

Propel Complete

• Allow Propel access to your authentication system (RADIUS or IP Block)
• Work with Propel to educate your support staff


Propel Self-Hosted

• Purchase or have access to servers for use as acceleration servers
• Allow Propel access to your authentication system (RADIUS or IP Block)
• Work with Propel to educate your support staff
• Monitor usage with software provided by Propel

What are the server requirements to host Propel?

Dual-CPU server

• Intel Xeon or equivalent CPU (3 GHz or faster)
• 2 GB RAM
• 40 GB hard drive storage (IDE)
• Ethernet Adapter
• Red Hat Enterprise Linux (WS/ES/AS 3.0 or 4.0)

What is Propel Complete?

Propel Complete is a fully managed and hosted solution for Service Providers who want to offer accelerated Internet access without the expense of dedicated resources. Propel manages all deployment, maintenance and network operations at the Propel Data Center to deliver 99.99% uptime. There's no need to purchase and install new hardware, software or other resources. It is the hassle-free way to reduce the amount of data transmitted to the Service Provider Points-of-Presence (POPs) by over 50% while providing Web page acceleration, email acceleration, ad blocking and pop-up blocking to your low-speed subscribers. Propel Complete eliminates expense and risk and lets you focus on serving your customers.

What is the Propel Data Center?

The Propel Data Center is a collection of carrier-grade servers that manage connections, encode data, and compress images received from Web sites. The Data Center houses our Propel Complete hosted service.

What will my subscribers receive with Propel Complete?

Your subscribers will receive the Propel Accelerator client software, a Web acceleration service especially designed for Internet users who browse the Web over a low bandwidth or high latency communications links (such as Wi-fi (802.11), wireless mobile data, 1XRTT, GPRS/EDGE, ADSL, IDSL, satellite, cable and dial-up connections). This service immediately speeds up a typical Web browsing experience by up to 25 times. Propel Accelerator operates transparently between subscriber and the Web sites they visit—requiring no changes to or knowledge of the Web sites that are being accelerated.

Why offer Propel to my subscribers?

Choose Propel Accelerator and you will have the confidence in knowing that you are partnering with the industry leader in Internet acceleration. Our technology, deployment and customer service makes it easy and more profitable to add award-winning Propel Accelerator to your product line-up.

What is Propel Self-Hosted?

Propel Self-Hosted is a client/server software solution for Service Providers who wish to host and manage Propel Accelerator from within their own data centers. The benefits include:

• Linux-based software
• Unrivaled price and performance
• Easy to install and configure
• Easy to administer
• Server supports 7,000 concurrent users
• Additional capacity is gained by simply adding more servers to your network
• Servers can be load balanced using Propel Load Balancing software (included), a hardware load balancer or DNS round robin

How is Propel Self-Hosted Installed?

Propel Self-Hosted is designed to install with minimum operator interaction. The software and documentation is available for download from Propel's secure FTP site. The software installs in minutes using Red Hat's RPM utility. The administrator performing the installation simply copies the software to the target servers, executes RPM, and follows the on screen instructions. Propel Self-Hosted software will instruct the administrator when the installation is complete.

How is Propel Self-Hosted Deployed?

Propel Self-Hosted is designed for "rack and forget" administration. Simple configuration and rock-solid reliability make it easy to deploy. Servers can be added to a Propel Self-Hosted cluster on demand without service disruption. As demand increases beyond the capacity of your initial servers, load balancing of the servers can be implemented using Propel Load Balancing software (included), a hardware load balancer, or DNS Round Robin.

For optimal performance and reliability, it is recommended that Propel Self-Hosted be installed in a carrier-grade data center with redundant Internet connectivity and backup power capability.

How is Propel Self-Hosted Managed?

Propel Self-Hosted is designed to implement appliance-like behavior. Management of the server can be performed using a Web-based administration console, or command line on a remedial basis, when Propel Self-Hosted informs the administrator via SNMP of the need for attention. The administration interface allows the operator to remotely view the current status of the server and indicates the load under which it has been operating.

How does Propel Self-Hosted Authenticate?

Propel Self-Hosted supports both RADIUS authentication and IP address range validation. Propel Self-Hosted can be configured to query your RADIUS server for the user's acceleration access rights. Alternatively, IP address range validation may be used if you control the IP addresses that are given to your end-users. In this case, Propel Self-Hosted will only accelerate an end-user that is connected within the allowable IP address range.

Propel Self-Hosted can also be configured for open access and accelerate all users that connect to your server. Open access is applicable for a Service Provider that offers Propel Accelerator to all of its end-users and can ensure that any ability to connect to the Propel Self-Hosted server has already been authorized at a prior point in network connectivity.

What is Propel Accelerator?

Propel Accelerator is simply the fastest Web accelerator on the market today! If you surf the Internet using a lower-speed connection, you are painfully aware of how slow Web pages load. Propel Accelerator is a subscription-based service that works with your existing Service Provider. It increases the speed of Web browsing with all types of connections less than 2 Mbps. This includes:

• Low-Speed Wired & Wireless Broadband
• Wireless Mobile Data
• Satellite
• 802.11 Hotspots
• 1XRTT / GPRS / EDGE
• Dial-Up


Web pages typically load 3x to 7x faster, and sometimes 25x faster or more, while still delivering near original quality final images. * On average a page that almost takes 30 seconds can now be viewed in less than 7 seconds.

* Timing and image samples are based on a representative set of benchmarking photo gallery pages loaded over dial-up. Actual times and quality will vary based on where and how users surf.

On what types of sites does Propel work best?

How Does Propel Accelerator Work?

Compression - Propel Accelerator introduces new compression techniques, which take acceleration to new levels, and provides better performance than competing solutions.   This results in a faster page load times and an overall improved Internet performance.

Connection Optimization - Propel Accelerator optimizes the communication between your Internet connection and our network of servers. This eliminates the time wasted re-establishing and closing TCP/IP connections.

Caching - Propel Accelerator intelligently retains and reuses Web pages and page elements that have previously been sent to your computer.

Content Filtering - Propel Accelerator lets you block unsolicited content, such as pop-up ads and in-page ads. Blocking these ads causes Web pages to load faster.

What is Dynamic Imaging?

Propel Accelerator delivers fully usable Web pages to end users in significantly less time, without requiring users to settle for tradeoffs between image quality and page load speeds. With Dynamic Imaging, pages initially appear with lower quality preview images, allowing users to navigate through pages as quickly as possible. Image quality then improves automatically and dynamically in the background whenever a user pauses to view the contents of a page. Propel's image-compression technology allows both preview and incremental image data to be downloaded in the shortest amount of time with the least amount of network overhead.

How does compression affect data use?

Propel Accelerator introduces new compression techniques which take acceleration to new levels and provide better performance than competing solutions. Overall Web surfing and email data reduction can range from 70% to 90% depending on the range of final graphics qualities used.* This provides compelling data reduction advantages for Service Providers, and results in correspondingly faster page load times for end-users.

What content type is accelerated?

What content type is not accelerated?

Secure Pages
Accelerating HTTPS requires breaking the protocols in use and spoofing the desired destination site. However, doing this creates a break in the security of the HTTPS protocol, potentially allowing the logging and clear text visibility of the user's private data. For this reason, Propel Accelerator does not accelerate HTTPS traffic. This level of security risk would be unacceptable to our end users.

FTP Downloads
Files downloaded outside your browser.

Streaming Media / Audio & Video Files
Propel does not compress streaming media because audio and video files have already been compressed to the extent possible. Further compression would degrade the streaming media past an acceptable level.

What are the end-user System Requirements?