fasp™ is an innovative, fast file transfer protocol developed by Aspera and used to create a range of software solutions that eliminate the fundamental bottlenecks associated with the use of conventional file transfer protocols such as FTP and HTTP. The advantage of this is a dramatic increase in the transfer speed of data over public and private IP networks.
TCP is the underlying protocol that FTP, HTTP and many other file transfer protocols rely upon. It is the fundamental flaws associated with TCP that result in the bottlenecks created when sending large files over long distances via wide area networks. TCP uses a mechanism to regulate data flow whereby the TCP sender requires an acknowledgment of every packet from the TCP receiver, in order to inject more data into the network. If an acknowledgement is missed, the TCP protocol assumes that the network capacity is being over utilised and enters and aggressive congestion avoidance process. Thus data flow is reduced and never fully recovered, resulting in bottlenecks and the under utilisation of internet bandwidth. This inherent 'throughput bottleneck' becomes even more severe with increased packet loss and latency - both conditions that are associated with moving large quantities of data over wide area networks.
Unlike TCP, the fasp protocol achieves optimal throughput efficiency, regardless of network conditions. Independent of path latency and robust to extreme packet loss, fasp uses the standard UDP file transfer protocol but achieves the reliability lacking in UDP. This is realised via the application layer using a theoretically optimal approach that retransmits precisely, any packets that are lost in the initial transmission.
In addition to it's underlying file transport characteristics, fasp offers users extra-ordinary control over individual file transfer rates and bandwidth sharing, and full visibility into bandwidth utilisation. File transfer times can be guaranteed, regardless of the distance of the endpoints or the dynamic conditions of the network, including even transfers over satellite, wireless, and inherently long distance and unreliable international links. Complete security is built-in, including secure endpoint authentication, on-the-fly data encryption, and integrity verification.
fsap file transport characteristics include:
- Maximum speed
- Extraordinary bandwidth control
- Complete security
- A robust protocol
- Flexible Open Architecture
Find out more regarding the fasp file transfer protocol or Aspera's fasp range of fast file transfer solutions, alternatively contact Pro2col on 0333 123 1240.
