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Bleeding Edge

by Mike Masnick

Wed, Jun 4th 2003 1:08pm





Speeding Up The Internet

from the jumpstarting-TCP dept

Not much in the way of details in this article, so I'm a little skeptical about some of the claims (and am guessing that the reporter is probably exaggerating some of the usefulness of this), but some researchers have developed a system called "Fast TCP", which supposedly lets people send files over the internet "6,000 times faster" than currently possible. It sounds like Fast TCP just takes away some of the usual "workflow" of TCP - checking to make sure that the proper packets arrived before moving on. However, the story says that this is going to let people download movies in five seconds - and that Microsoft and Disney are already looking at it for video-on-demand services. Update: As expected, this is complete rubbish. Thanks to Adam Barr for pointing out the obvious points in the article that I should have picked up on. The reality is that these researchers did something that makes TCP 3.5 times faster. Then... they string ten of these together to make it 35 times faster and points out that such a system is "6,000 times faster" than an ordinary broadband link - whose limitations have nothing to do with the limitations of TCP.

5 Comments | Leave a Comment..


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  1.  

    And if you belive that...

    identicon
    Oliver Wendell Jones, Jun 4th, 2003 @ 1:11pm

    The only part missing from this story is the mention of their new corporate headquarters built on some beautiful ocean front property in Kansas. It's a mostly undeveloped area and there are still plenty of good lots available. Let us know if you're interested, we accept Florida swamp land in trade...

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  

    hoo baby!

    identicon
    Adam Barr, Jun 4th, 2003 @ 2:22pm

    Let's see, he did some tweak (not revealed) to make TCP 3.5 times faster...then put 10 of those together to make it 35 times faster...then points out that this is 6000 times faster than ordinary broadband links.

    So if I have a car that goes a bit faster than yours...but it also goes 100 times faster than a three-toed sloth...then my car will soon go 100 times faster than yours?

    TCP is already written to assume a good connection, it does not "stop and wait" to ensure that packets get there before sending more.

    - adam

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  

    Re: hoo baby!

    identicon
    meeeee, Jun 6th, 2003 @ 6:11am

    ok, 2 things...
    TCP Window size - you don't have to stop and wait for every darn packet
    Video Services - why the hell would you use tcp for streaming video?????

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  

    well now,..........

    identicon
    jobless in awe'stine, Jul 12th, 2003 @ 7:26am

    i remember that article. it sounded to good to be true but didn't offer much in the way of details. i forget the magazine, but it was a fairly reputable one. funny !

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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