Tektronix finds unique method to beat Internet traffic jams
By Dave Turbide, contributing editor -- Manufacturing Business Technology, 2/1/2004 7:00:00 AM
Even though Internet traffic theoretically travels at the speed of light, companies practicing e-commerce often find that traffic jams can slow response times on their Web sites to a crawl. This problem can be especially acute when someone logs on to a site managed by a server located on the other side of the world.
That was exactly the situation confronting Tektronix, Beaverton, Ore., when it began expanding sales of its electronic test measurement and monitoring equipment into China.
Tektronix thought it could sidestep these global traffic jams by devising a unique architecture for its e-commerce ventures. Its Web site is managed from five different locations around the globe. Each localized site is linked directly to the corporate site in Beaverton, providing quick access to product support documents and software downloads. This ensures that materials used corporatewide can be managed efficiently from corporate headquarters while providing individual customers the maximum amount of local-oriented content.
In creating this infrastructure, Tektronix's IT staff wanted to ensure that any customer anywhere in the world would get the same response time as someone accessing the site in Beaverton. (The actual stated goal was that all response times would be within 10 percent of Beaverton's.)
When heavier-than-expected traffic began to slow things down—particularly in China—Tektronix resolved to stick to its original response goals. "Speed is the differentiator when customers are seeking information," says Larry Bunyard, director of the Tektronix Internet business group. "Response time in China was unacceptable and getting worse as we kept adding downloads and other applications."
Their first response, and the obvious solution, was to look at adding hardware. "We could have just thrown hardware at the problem," Bunyard states, "but that not only adds significant cost, it greatly increases the complexity of managing the network and keeping everything in sync."
While researching solutions, Tektronix discovered what is termed an application delivery network (ADN) service, from a company called Netli. This product, called NetLightning, provided the speed Tektronix wanted without new hardware and with almost no changes to existing networks and applications." Says Bunyard, "There was no disruption and virtually no changes to our systems."
Because the solution was new and relatively unknown, Tektronix told Netli it had to show that the solution worked before Tektronix launched its project. In the end, Bunyard says, NetLightning exceeded expectations, delivering an average 30-percent improvement in downloads and an average 60-percent improvement in some other applications.
Netli describes the problem this way: think of Internet communication as consisting of three segments.
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The first mile—application processing time and content generation
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The middle mile—round-trip travel between local ISPs on either end
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The last mile—receipt and handling on the user end
The problem is in the middle mile. Even though the message traverses the globe in a fraction of a second, HTTP is structured such that a typical 70K Web page traveling with 25 objects between Atlanta and Tokyo requires 31 round trips across this middle mile (see illustration). NetLightning replaces the HTTP transfer with a proprietary protocol between regional servers placed strategically around the globe to cut the number of round trips and the way the data stream is handled to reduce distance-related delays and the overall response time to almost the same as local response.
Tektronix has been so pleased with the NetLightning results for China that the company decided to use it globally to provide better response in all other regions. "We monitor our competitors to ensure that we are performing in the top quartile," Bunyard declares. "We're now leading our segment in response time."
