FAQs

WarpGateway™ is a cost-effective network optimization product that uses patent-pending technology developed by Badu Networks.  It is software that can be deployed as an appliance or as an origin server component.

While every situation is different, we can make the following general characterization. WarpTCP™ technology typically provides 30% – 50% boost in effective mobile throughput (more in some cases).  For streaming applications, the effective throughput can be as high as 200% – 300%.

All traffic that uses TCP for transport including web and video traffic. 

No. WarpEngine™ CT is a fully transparent proxy solution and can add significant value in other ways. Our optional multi-layer federated cache is of interest to many customers.

Yes. WarpTCP™ can make a big difference over the wireless last mile. Because of WarpTCP™, TCP sessions can complete faster — which results in reduced radio network use, thus leading to higher capacity for those that are connected. The result is a much improved user experience on mobile devices. We have also seen a 20%-25% improvement in mobile device battery life under certain heavy use conditions.

We are agnostic to content, so any type of file running over TCP will benefit. The benefit will vary by size of content such as a web page (small objects) versus a video (longer stream).

In almost every case, yes.  TLS and other similar transport layer security schemes are optimized, IPSEC is not.

Not at all!  We designed WarpGateway with simplicity in mind, all the way through.  Installation is easy and straight forward.

Maybe. The installed WarpGateway™ system must see all of the packets in a TCP stream in order to perform its work. In some complex network configurations, routing changes are required in order to ensure that the packet flow is correct.

WarpEngine™ CT (Cell Tower) was designed for carrier networks.  We have tested and fine-tuned our system inside an LTE-A core network. WarpGateway™ routinely handled 2 – 4 million TCP sessions per hour with no issues.

 

 

 

 

 

Our WarpTCP™ technology is designed to service high-throughput TCP sessions by maintaining sub-millisecond response for TCP session setup and packet routing.  Each deployed blade is able to maintain up to 100,000 open TCP sessions (this is ideal for situations where many clients are maintaining long-running TCP sessions — e.g. Skype chat). Our carrier class systems are available in 10G, 20G, 30G and 40G configurations.

Visit the WarpEngine™ CT page for additional details on the 10G – 40G deployments.

WarpEngine™ CT is designed to meet carrier-grade safety and reliability requirements and contains no single point of failure.  Our in-line bypass switch has both Active bypass and Passive bypass modes.  With Active bypass, if the L4 switch, a blade or service is inoperative, then traffic is immediately bypassed directly to the Internet.  The Passive bypass function is used in the event that there is a power loss at the bypass switch.  In that case, a hardware relay is triggered and the passive bypass will flow all traffic as if the switch was just a wire. 

Yes!  Our WarpTCP™ technology is additive and applies to layer 4, so other upgrades you make to the other layers of the OSI model stack don’t affect WarpTCP’s ability to optimize your throughput.  You’ll still see significant improvements, at a fraction (approx. 1/20) of the costs spent on spectrum and network upgrades. 

The typical implementation is in the core and at the edge of the core network before the radio network. This delivers maximum benefit to mobile users in each segment of the network. However, network topologies differ, so we consult with our customers to determine the most effective deployment strategy.

Placing WarpGateway™ behind a Wi-Fi access point typically doubles how many users can simultaneously stream full HD video, surf the web, upload files — you name it.  WarpGateway™ gives your wireless users the experience they need and expect.

WarpGateway™ will improve any wireless network, regardless of the scale.  We have scalable configurations for larger networks (to get the absolute best performance), but any size network will see significant gains right out of the box.

No.  The existing equipment does not need to be replaced or upgraded. WarpGateway™ is a transparent solution that works with existing networks and makes them more efficient.

No.  WarpGateway™ is independent of the wireless protocols so your investment is protected.

The issue with Wi-Fi is rarely more bandwidth requirement and this is an expensive approach. The issue is usually the inefficiency of TCP running over the radio network between the AP and the mobile devices.  If this can be improved then more devices with a much better user experience is the result.

Typically it is as simple as plugging a WarpGateway™ appliance before the Wi-Fi AP and the users will immediately feel the benefit. Not only will the user experience get better but the network will be able to accommodate more traffic and support more mobile devices.

Badu offers free trials of WarpTCP™ in your current environment.  Click here to contact us for more details.

Encrypted networks are not an issue if WarpTCP™ is deployed before any encryption takes place. 

Just about any web application that runs over TCP. Applications that run HTTP and HTTPs are prime targets for our improvement. If you have a centralized application with users spread over a wide area (coast to coast or Internationally) especially when the users access the application across a wireless network, WarpTCP™ can add significant value. Examples are partner portals, supply chain dashboards, employee extranets, order management applications, etc. 

The answer is probably yes, especially if the users are geographically dispersed. Web applications are typically sensitive to network distance and any loss so if you have some users that are complaining about slow loading web pages, WarpTCP™ might be a good solution for this.

WarpTCP™ can improve file transfers across the Internet significantly. The larger the files, and the farther the network distance, the better the improvement. The good news is that the current processes would stay in place. WarpTCP™ typically improves transfers by up to 200% – 300%.

Benefit will vary because of several factors. Depending on how much is being served directly from your origin web servers, how big the objects are and network distance to the end user, the incremental benefit can be anywhere from 10%-50%. This would be to a PC or Laptop on a wired connection. When you add in Wi-Fi or wireless last mile to mobile devices, then the benefit could increase quite a bit.

This depends on your current infrastructure. WarpTCP™ software can be installed directly on web servers or as an appliance in front of web servers on the way out to the Internet. Each network is different and there are a few things that dictate how our technology is deployed. This can be discussed in our initial conversation.

No. Depending on how we decide to deploy in your network there may be a small routing change but WarpTCP™ is agnostic to content and how an application actually works.

To test is very easy and straightforward. Once we determine where WarpTCP™ will sit in your network and what the test bed will look like then it is just a matter of turning it on and measuring with and without benefit.

No. End users will see an immediate benefit in most cases. They don’t have to do anything to receive the benefit. All of the magic is done at the sending end.

There are a number of good reasons to try WarpTCP™. First of all, delivery from your network across a wireless network to multiple devices is probably still suffering, and there are regions of the world where the wireless coverage isn’t the best and this is where WarpTCP™ would really help.

For example, if you are thinking about expanding your network to a region where you want to compete with other CDNs, instead of spending capital $ you may want to try delivery with WarpTCP™ over a longer distance from an existing PoP rather than build a new one in the region. Moving the video content to the edge of your network can also be a major headache, especially for “long tail content” that is cached farther away on your network, because of network storage costs and minimal use.

Many times, companies initially accept the performance hit of moving an application to the cloud because of the efficiency and cost savings. But many companies hesitate to move latency sensitive applications to the cloud, because they know the users will not accept poor usability. Once an application has been in the cloud for a while, and the customer gets through the initial tuning process and they realize that the remaining latency is due to the cloud itself, they all of the sudden become more aggressive about SLAs — and when it comes time to renew, it is a leverage point.

WarpTCP™ is designed to correct many of the inefficiencies of TCP without changing anything about the content, applications or networks. Benefit will vary with each different use case or network. You will see the biggest benefit in the worst performing use cases like wireless or long last mile delivery, but there will be benefit in many use cases where the performance is just okay and they will get better as well. The only way to really know is to test and measure.

If WarpTCP™ is deployed at the edge of any cloud or CDN network, the immediate impact will be lower latency to users that are accessing either network. Static or dynamic content being served over the last mile to the user will be served faster, which would have a positive impact on any application running on a browser.  This enables better performance into global regions that are typically difficult like parts of Asia, South America, the Middle East or Northern Europe. WarpTCP™ enables your PoPs to cover more regions from fewer locations with better performance. Other benefits include moving files and data faster inside of your network and better utilization of bandwidth.

WarpTCP™ can be deployed at any point along the path to the end user. When deployed on a cloud or CDN edge, as content is delivered across the Internet to a Wi-Fi network (business or home) or across the wireless last mile by a wireless service provider, the content (video or web pages, etc.) will be impacted in a positive way. There are too many variables to estimate the % benefit but because of the built-in latency of a wireless network, it will always be positive. When WarpTCP™ is at the edge of a wireless provider network (before the radio network) the benefits can be as much as 200%-300% to mobile devices.

This is a very good question and it depends on your business model. Most customers are looking for a good price but also are aware of CDN and cloud performance because of public services like Cedexis and Cloud Harmony. These web based reporting platforms constantly measure the performance of CDNs and clouds and offer free statistics to companies shopping for these services. WarpTCP™ can be used to improve selective PoPs (difficult regions) or an entire network.

Usually very easy because cloud providers and CDNs have multiple load balanced server farms that can be taken up and down very easily. WarpTCP™ can be deployed on selected servers or virtual instances for testing in specific PoPs. WarpTCP™ is a lightweight kernel module that can be deployed on any Linux kernel that is requested. WarpTCP™ can run on a guest OS in any virtualized cloud environment.