Text: Frank Ulstrup
Translation: Karoline Leistiko
Smart Internetdistribution is a Hit
Without blocking or giving e.g. YouTube or Facebook lower priority, StraightShaper gives fast internet to all users of a broadband connection.
The problem is known, extensive and feared. When numerous users are sharing the same internet connection, it is not unusual that one or more users spending time on e.g. YouTube or Facebook, are consuming most of the bandwidth. The result of this is often that remaining users are left with a slow and sometimes entirely blocked internet connection. If you ask the two American it giants Cisco and Allot, the solution to the problem is to give lower priority to, or block sites, which are known to use vast amounts of bandwidth. For example, Allot markets the NetEnforcer solution, which gives the customer the possibility to blacklist websites and thus release capacity on the internet.
That solution worked fine until a few years ago. “But as services like YouTube and Facebook are being used more and more in education and business, that method is falling short”, explains sales manager from SmartShare Systems, Henrik Güsmer-Riggelsen. – Five years ago it was easy to say that you didn’t want YouTube on your network, but today where everything merges and the service is used professionally in almost all relations, it is not so simple anymore”. This is also the reason why the company has experienced increased demands for the so called StraightShaper, over the past years.
This unit distributes the capacity of bandwidth equally, based on how many users are active on the network. “The greater justice has big advantages”, says Henrik Güsmer-Riggelsen. “We have, among others, helped more than 200 educational institutions, where e.g. students have not been able to get on the internet or to go to required services during exams. The same applies to businesses, where the problems are also common. Today it is not unusual to bring two or three electronic devices to work which each demands a part of the bandwidth capacity. It is highly irritating when the capacity is not present, and unfortunately, that also results in great costs for the company.
“But even if SmartShare Systems can praise themselves of being the only ones in the world that distributes bandwidth equally among the users, there can still be a need for prioritizing or blocking certain parts of the internet”, says Henrik Güsmer-Riggelsen. “There can well be reasons for shutting down certain categories, and therefore we co-exist fine with the more traditional solutions from companies like Cisco and Allot”.