Xrio's Unified Bandwidth Management Blog

We consider ourselves the world leader in bonding technology here’s why:

Telco Independent

We work at the IP layer, meaning as long as you can route IP over each of the links you want to bond, we can bond it.  You don’t need cooperation or permission from the ISP or Telco to bond.

Easy to Deploy

Bonding is a two-part process; you need a device at the site where you want to aggregate links and another in a remote location, perhaps a datacentre.  This platform has been ‘virtualised’ meaning it can run on standard servers and on existing infrastructure with no need to install new hardware.

Best Algorithms

Internet links do not always perform as they should, and poorly performing links impact the overall bonding performance.  Our bonding algorithms are the work of years of experimentation and improvement and will always give you the absolute best performance possible, constantly monitoring an adjusting to network conditions.

Built in ADSL Ports

If you are bonding ADSL links, the UBMi appliance has built in ADSL ports, that means no need to have separate routers like other solutions.  We have devices with 2, 4 and 8 ports, and all types of ADSL are supported including ADSL2+ and Annex M.  This is unique, you won’t find another appliance like it.

Affordable

The Xrio UBM is packed full of features and functionality at an extremely competitive price.  We are more expensive than a standard low-end router, but much cheaper than competitive solutions such as Cisco and Riverbed.

Multifunctional

Bonding is not a ‘one size fits all’ solution.  Organisations invariably have different requirements and simple bonding all traffic may not be desirable.  The UBM appliance is an extremely powerful and flexible device this provides organisations with full control of our traffic flows out of their network.  That may mean, taking 4 circuits, bonding 2 of them for a VPN connection, and load balancing the remaining 2 for Voice Over IP or perhaps dedicating 1 for an email feed.

Management Platform

We have a comprehensive provisioning, management and monitoring and diagnostics platform that has been developed over a number of years together with our partners.  Its aim is to provide a single platform for customers who manage Xrio UBM networks from just a few devices to 1000’s.

We’ve been doing it for 8 years

In which time we’ve installed 1000s of devices and work on countless projects with our partners.  We know what works and what doesn’t and our customers benefit directly from this experience.

It’s what we do

Bonding is our core and ‘killer application’; it’s the reason behind our continued success and enables us to continue to innovate.  As a customer of Xrio, you can always be sure you have our focus, on technology that is core to our business, not a ‘we also do’.

Advanced Functions

Although bonding is at our core, it makes for a small part of the overall functionality of the UBM feature-set.  Advanced features such as WAN Compression, Traffic Shaping, 3G connectivity, Centralised Network Management amongst many more, supplement and enhance the benefits the UBM appliance brings.

Multiple Deployment Scenarios

You aren’t constrained to deploying bonding in a specific way.  We support many different deployment scenarios, such as Bonded Internet, Bonded VPN (site-to-site), Bonded Private Network (IPVPN & MPLS).

Tags: bonding

Companies are regularly looking at ways to reduce costs and with property rents in cities continually going up, even during the recession, many are looking at ways to move to cheaper locations out of city centres as well as find better working environments for staff. Unfortunately these moves are often limited by a lack of high capacity Internet access with only low bandwidth connections available in more rural locations.

Now companies have an alternative, using 3G Internet access they can pretty much base their business anywhere but up until now capacity has still been an issue. The advent of simple to install 3G bonding solutions means that companies can aggregate existing low capacity ADSL connections with 3G connections to multiply bandwidth and have high quality connections with built in failover at a fraction of a cost.

Businesses can make significant financial savings when they move to a rural location as they no longer have top pay for infrastructure upgrades. By simply plugging in the ADSL connection along side the 3G connections bandwidth can be bonded together for increased capacity.

Next time you are looking at an office move or even setting up your own business you can now look out of the city centre thanks to 3G Bonding.

Tags: 3G Bonding, Bandwidth, Rural Internet Access

Comms Business Magazine state that 95% of the UK's ISP's will start following OFCOM's code of practice removing the much lothed term "up to" which traditionally accompanies broadband speeds at the point of purchase.

With 21CN services on the brink of being launched nationally and Virgins new 50Mbps service set to spark the next wave of speed increases across the board, users are set to enjoy an ever increasing acceleration of Internet access.

In order to compete with Virgins offering, many ISP's are turning to Bonded ADSL as a way of provisioning a competative product. This is great news for Xrio Partners who are poised to benefit from increased customer knowledge about this subject.

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New product range features integrated 2 and 4 port ADSL interfaces, reducing power, space and administration overheads for IT Managers.

Leeds, UK, December 10th, 2008 - Xrio Ltd, UK based manufacturer of world leading Internet bonding and load balancing solutions, today announced it has expanded its Link Aggregation technologies with the new UBM 200i and UBM 400i unified bandwidth management appliances. A first in the market, both the UBM 200i and UBM 400i represent an evolution of Xrio's classic UBM 200 and UBM 400 appliances with the addition of integrated 2 port ADSL router/modem in the UBM 200i and 4 port ADSL modem in the UBM 400i supporting ADSL1, ADSL2, ADSL2+ and Annex M.

This leap in technology serves to contribute to power savings with integrated devices consuming less energy and reduce the amount of cabling and 3rd party devices required to traditionally perform link bonding and load balancing tasks. In addition with an integrated appliance, less administration is required and support overheads will be reduced as the need for 3rd party ADSL modems is negated.

Xrios ADSL Bonding and Load Balancing technologies are revolutionary in the market and will shape the way in which businesses deploy link aggregation devices in the future.

"The ever increasing demand for bandwidth coupled with the lack of contemporary telecoms infrastructure within the UK has left many IT executives with few alternatives to costly leased lines. In addition the drive for greener solutions, diminished service provision in rural areas and the global economic slow-down is putting pressure on organisations to source new technologies in an effort to improve efficiency and quality of service whilst reducing overheads." said Danny Waite, CTO and head of Research and Development. "Integrated ADSL bonding and Link Aggregation solutions like Xrio's UBM 400i provide an effective and efficient way to tackle the issues of stable optimised bandwidth provision whilst helping to reduce carbon emissions, costs and network complexity."

The UBM 200i with all the routing capabilities of a 2 port standard router but with all the functionality of intelligent load balancing makes this entry level appliance an all in one solution for traffic management and failover.

The QoS enabled UBM 400i this 4 port appliance allows aggregation of up to 4 separate circuits using any technology and any ISP, allowing total freedom to optimise your bandwidth and reliability.

Deployment benefits of the new UBM 200i and UBM 400i solutions include:

Reduce Costs and Improve Resilience

By replacing costly leased lines with low cost UBM bonded DSL connections businesses can reduce their overheads and manage their traffic efficiently. Extended UBM functionality also provides improved connection reliability and resilience with its failover configuration, high availability, ISP independence and ability to bond multiple connection types including 21CN, 3G and WIMAX adding to the overall business continuity strategy.

Optimise and Scale Bandwidth Provision

UBM gives customers the ability to implement bandwidth management policies, enabling them to tailor and scale bandwidth usage and availability to meet business needs. The UBM range supports an unlimited number of users and between 2 and 64 links, offers the best-in-class scalability and performance and enables enterprise data centres to roll out next-generation network infrastructures.

"The UBMi range is an outstanding achievement by the Xrio team as we launch the worlds 1^st multiport ADSL router and integrate it into our leading UBM range. This launch evidences Xrio’s commitment to continually provide customers with the market's most advanced integrated bonding and link balancing appliance with all the functionalities to provide organisations with the necessary tools to optimise their network. For such an advanced and feature rich appliance the new UBMi has proven to remove the general complexities of installation thus ensuring quick and simple deployment, whilst also maintaining a flexible, adaptable, highly cost-efficient overall solution," said Shelley Garbutt-Wilson, Director of Sales at Xrio. " With over 18 months in development and a further 6 months in testing the UBMi is the next generation of network appliance, combining routing capabilities, link balancing, bonding, traffic prioritisation and QoS in one easy to use appliance. Many businesses will know our classic UBM range as it is an established well respected product deployed in the market today and it will remain well positioned in our portfolio, the launch of our UBMi range will only strengthen our position further in the market to become the brand of choice for link balancing and bonding appliances” She continues, "Xrio's UBM 400i and Virtualised platform VBond provide an effective and efficient way to tackle the issues of stable bandwidth provision whilst helping to reduce carbon emissions, costs and network complexity,"

The UBM 200i and UBM 400i are expected to retail for £699 and £1199 respectively with the original UBM 200 and UBM 400 configurations being still available under the monika 'Classic' and reduced in price to £599 and £999.

For more information on Xrio’s connection bonding solutions, please visit www.xrio.com.

Availability

Both the UBM 200i and UBM 400i will be available as of the 5^th January 2009.

About Xrio Ltd

Xrio, pronounced "x, rio", is the global leader in ADSL Bonding and Link Aggregation products. Xrio provides solutions that make Internet, WAN and VPN access fast and reliable for everyone. By adding intelligence and flexibility into the network to optimise inbound and outbound bandwidth usage, Xrio extends the power of intelligent link usage to all levels of application delivery. Xrio's extensible platform intelligently integrates bandwidth optimization, protects the application and the network, and delivers connection reliability. 1000’s of organisations and service providers worldwide trust Xrio to keep their businesses online and operating at peak bandwidth efficiency. The company is headquartered in Leeds, West Yorkshire with Distributors, Partners and Resellers worldwide. For more information, go to www.xrio.com.

Press Contact

Mark Rushworth
Xrio Ltd
+44 (0)113 3220031
mark@xrio.com

This press release may contain forward looking statements relating to future events or future financial performance that involve risks and uncertainties. Such statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "should," "expects," "plans," "anticipates," "believes," "estimates," "predicts," "potential," or "continue," or the negative of such terms or comparable terms. These statements are only predictions and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in these statements based upon a number of factors including those identified in the company's filings with the SEC.

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A common topic when talking to customers during pre-sales are the differences between load balancing and bonding and which one is best for them.  It's true to say that there is no ideal solution to fit all customers and their requirements.

In order to draw conclusion, we must understand how transmissions are made between 2 hosts, the sender and the receiver.  Are you ready for the science lesson?

What is a connection?

Commonly refered to as a connection or stream, it is a single data transmission that is established through the Internet between 2 hosts.  The TCP/IP protocol contains many types of connection, the most of common of which is TCP.

TCP - Transmission Control Protocol - Establishes a relationship between 2 hosts and provides a reliable connection
UDP - User Datagram Protocol - A fire-and-forget based protocol that offers performance over TCP

Although there are many protocols that make up the TCP/IP protocol suite, most are based on either TCP or UDP.

What is a session?

A session can me made up of multiple transmissions and there are considered two types.  Some applications create multiple transmissions or connections of the same type to improve performance, the most common is HTTP.

When requesting a web site, your computer will open up mutliple connections to the web server, hence you will see multiple image relating to the website, appear at the same time. 

The second defination of a session are protocols such as VoIP and IPSEC VPN's who use multiple, different types of connection for different purposes.  If we take a look at IPSEC, we can see that a UDP connection is first made to establish a security trust between the two hosts or networks, once succeeded a second connection is made to build the encypted tunnel.

How does load balancing help?

When a new connection arrives at the load balancing device, the connection is directed to one of many links using an algorithm specified.  For the entirity of this connection, only the bandwidth of one link can be used.  In some instances this might be desirable, in some it probably won't. When the next connections arrives at the load balancing device, it is directed to another link, thus incresing overall bandwidth and performance of the network.  Moreover, if an application creates multiple connections to the destination server, its possible that in can benefit from increased bandwidth if the load balancing device chooses to route those connections over multiple links.

The drawbacks of load balancing

If a link fails during a transmission

How does bonding help?

Bonding will take each single connection and

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