Frequently Asked Questions

What is RocketStream?

RocketStream is a communications platform providing accelerated delivery of content over any IP network. RocketStream’s current products provide for the secure and reliable delivery of large files over high-speed networks operating 10-200 times faster than traditional FTP. The product suite consists of six products: RocketStream Uplink Express, Uplink Pro, Station Express, Station Pro, Server Express, and Server Pro.

How does RocketStream work?

RocketStream leverages its proprietary transports to overcome the performance limitations of TCP when operating over high-speed connections with measurable latency. In addition to performance benefits, RocketStream also provides enhanced delivery services including real-time payload encryption, compression, and verification. Over adequate bandwidth with measurable latency, RocketStream can usually outperform technologies such as FTP by at least a factor of 10, and sometimes as much as a factor of 200.

Who should use RocketStream?

RocketStream Uplink, Station, and Server were designed for IT professionals and enterprise customers to move massive amounts of content as fast as possible over high-speed broadband connections. Consumers may also fully exploit RocketStream’s capabilities, but some knowledge of IP networking and firewall configuration may be required.

What happened to RocketStream Station Free?

With the release of RocketStream 1.2, RocketStream Station Free has been discontinued.

How can I determine the latency of a connection?

Packet latency is the elapsed time required for a packet sent over a network to be received at the destination. A good method to measure latency between two points over the Internet is to use a common computer utility called ping. The ping command will report the round-trip-time (RTT) between any two IP addresses measured in milliseconds. Latency is approximately half the ping time measured.

Can I use RocketStream for streaming content?

RocketStream Uplink, Station, and Server are specifically designed to accelerate file transfers over IP networks. Although the RocketStream protocol is capable of accelerating real-time streams of data, such as audio and video feeds, this is not supported in the current version of the product. Contact RocketStream Sales to discuss future implementations of streaming acceleration.

Is RocketStream useful with my broadband connection?

RocketStream 1.1 allows users to choose between the traditional RocketStream UDP Protocol, which is optimized for maximum acceleration over high-bandwidth connections (greater than 5 Mb/s), and a new PDP variation optimized for slower connections (1 to 5 Mb/s). The PDP setting is therefore appropriate for users with ADSL, cable modem, and T1/E1 connections, while the traditional UDP setting applies to users with Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet, DS-3/E3, OC-3/STM-1, or OC-12/STM-4 connections.

Should I encrypt files before sending them using RocketStream?

RocketStream provides real-time payload encryption of content, requiring no pre- or post-processing of the file for maximum security.

Should I compress my files before sending them over RocketStream?

RocketStream Station Pro and Uplink Pro can optionally compress files during transit. The performance benefits of using in-flight compression will depend on the type of content transmitted. Large log files, documents, database backups, mainframe extracts, and text data are highly suitable for compression in transit. Non-compressed images may also be compressed in real-time by RocketStream.

What operating systems does RocketStream support?

The current version of RocketStream supports Windows 2000, Windows 2003, Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Macintosh OS X v10.4 (Tiger) or later. Contact RocketStream Sales for information about Linux and Unix.

What is the difference between Pro and Express?

Pro versions of RocketStream have enhanced features for the power user, including real-time payload compression, enhanced security, IP blocking, remote Server administration, job scheduling, hot folders, synchronization, and mirroring. Express versions of RocketStream are limited to maximum transfer rates of 10 Mb/s per connection, while Pro versions are unlimited.

Does RocketStream provide an SDK for developers?

RocketStream is evaluating the development of a client-side SDK for integration into third-party solutions, and to empower developers to leverage the RocketStream technology within their applications. Contact RocketStream Sales for more information.