turboVR™

Q What is turboVR?
A Comtech EF Data’s turboVR is a combination router with acceleration. It was designed specifically to combat the inherent challenges of transmitting TCP over satellite links, and is ideally suited for small-to-medium businesses.

Q Why is TCP acceleration important?
A With convergence of voice, data and video over satellite becoming more of a common practice, some organizations are encountering TCP/IP performance limitations. Typical satellite links exhibit both high latency and bit error rates (referred to as impaired links), which can be challenging for the transmission of TCP. turboVR provides transparent acceleration of TCP sessions, thereby increasing the throughput over satellite links.

Q Why does TCP performance degrade over impaired links?
A As a connection-oriented protocol, there are a number of factors that can degrade TCP’s performance over impaired links, specifically:§ The time required for an acknowledgement can severely limit the ramp up in transmission rate § Sender’s small window size reduces throughput§ Delay that is interpreted as network congestion versus propagation causes reduced transmission rates§ Packet loss that is interpreted as network congestion versus corruption causes reduced transmission rates

Q Does my entire network need to be simultaneously upgraded to add turboVR?
A turboVR is standards-based and interoperates with TCP/IP networks and devices. Therefore, it can be seamlessly integrated into existing networks in a staged manner, avoiding the need for network-wide upgrades.

Q When should Selective Acceleration be used?
A Selective acceleration provides a mechanism for bypassing acceleration on user-specified TCP ports. Up to 32 TCP ports can be configured to not undergo acceleration. The flexibility offered by this function is particularly beneficial in configurations where certain network applications cannot achieve performance benefits via acceleration, such as some call processing applications.

Q What is SkipWare®?
A The origin of SkipWare is the result of the work Global Science & Technology, Inc. (GST) did on the Space Communications Protocol Standards (SCPS) for NASA and the Department of Defense. Global Protocols, Inc., a GST-affiliated company, distributes SkipWare as an embedded service on Comtech EF Data’s turboVR and turboIP products. SkipWare mitigates or eliminates the obstacles associated with satellite transport of TCP traffic.

Q What is the maximum data rate of turboVR?
A The maximum data rate is 2.048 Mbps. In the case where higher throughput is required, turboIP can be deployed, supporting up to 15 Mbps.

Q Are turboVR and turboIP compatible?
A Yes, when turboVR is used in the same network as turboIP, the turboIP must be in router mode and running v2.6.x software.

Q What performance benefits will turboVR provide to my network?
A The feature set in turboVR enables you to overcome the inherent limitations of TCP/IP traffic on impaired links. By doing so, it can deliver performance gains for your network, including increasing network throughput for TCP session and restoring network efficiency.