WAN Acceleration Devices Using Private Tunnels for Protocol Optimization
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Corporate networks face performance issues due to application protocol overhead and latency, Transport Control Protocol (TCP) overhead, and limited WAN bandwidth, particularly affecting application-level protocols that perform poorly in wide-area networks (WANs).
Innovation Solution
The implementation of WAN acceleration methods that include application acceleration, transport acceleration, and network acceleration techniques, such as data reduction, data compression, and security functions, are applied through shared connection-oriented and connectionless tunnels between WAN acceleration devices to optimize data communications. These methods classify data streams and apply specific acceleration techniques to improve performance and security.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If application-level protocols are used for data communication in WAN environment, then application functionality is provided, but performance deteriorates due to protocol overhead and latency
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces WAN acceleration devices as intermediary components between endpoints in the WAN. These devices establish private tunnels and apply acceleration techniques (compression, caching, protocol optimization) to reduce the impact of application protocol overhead and latency, thereby improving application performance without sacrificing functionality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes key parameters of data communication by applying compression algorithms to reduce data size, adjusting protocol behavior through acceleration techniques, and modifying transmission parameters through private tunnels. This reduces the effective overhead and latency experienced by application-level protocols in WAN environments.
2Reliability
If TCP protocol is used for reliable data transmission, then data integrity is ensured, but performance deteriorates due to TCP overhead and latency
Solution Approach 1:
The WAN acceleration devices act as intermediaries that handle TCP protocol processing. By terminating and re-establishing TCP connections through private tunnels, the devices offload TCP overhead from end systems and apply optimization techniques that maintain data integrity while improving communication efficiency across the WAN.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the network communication into multiple layers with WAN acceleration devices handling transport layer functions. This segmentation allows TCP overhead to be managed at the acceleration device level while application data flows through optimized paths, separating reliability functions from performance-critical data transmission.
3Productivity
If WAN bandwidth is limited, then network infrastructure cost is reduced, but data communication performance deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies data compression algorithms that change the parameter of data size, reducing the amount of bandwidth required for transmission. By compressing data before transmission and decompressing at the receiving end, the system achieves higher effective communication efficiency on limited bandwidth WAN infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The WAN acceleration devices perform preliminary actions by pre-compressing data, pre-caching frequently accessed content, and pre-establishing optimized transmission paths through private tunnels. This preliminary processing reduces the actual bandwidth consumption during data transmission, improving performance on bandwidth-limited networks.
4Reliability
If connection-oriented tunnels are established for secure data transmission, then security is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The WAN acceleration devices are designed with multi-functionality, combining tunnel establishment, data compression, caching, and security functions in a single device. This universality reduces the need for separate specialized devices, managing complexity through integration while providing comprehensive security and acceleration capabilities.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and systems are provided for increasing application performance and accelerating data communications in a WAN environment. According to one embodiment, packets are received at a flow classification module operating at the Internet Protocol (IP) layer of a first wide area network (WAN) acceleration device via a private tunnel, which is operable to convey application layer data for connection-oriented applications between WAN acceleration devices. The packets are passed to a WAN socket operating at the transport layer. Based on the application protocol, the packets are passed to an application handler of multiple application handlers operating at the application layer each of which implements one or more application acceleration techniques for a particular application layer protocol known to behave poorly within a WAN environment. The existing connection-oriented flow is securely accelerated by performing one or more application acceleration techniques and applying one or more security functions.