July 9, 2014

Hughes Network Systems, LLC announced two new enhancements to its ActiveQoS^™ optimization technology that significantly improve network performance for government cloud applications and 4G wireless connectivity. Part of the comprehensive suite of HughesON^™ Managed Network Solutions, these enhancements deliver government agencies true end-to-end quality of service (QoS) over commonly available broadband.

"In the past, Government field offices have struggled with unreliable, low bandwidth network solutions or were forced to pay for costly T1 lines to access their agency's primary network—that ends now," said Tony Bardo, assistant vice president for Government Solutions at Hughes. "HughesON makes it possible for rural field offices to access the same cloud applications as their headquarters' counterparts at high speeds—and do it cost-effectively."

Cloud Acceleration
Government agencies are finding their existing wide-area networks (WAN's) may not be up to the challenge of supporting new bandwidth intensive cloud applications. For example, Guest WiFi and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings can easily overwhelm an existing MPLS network with T1 access. An ideal solution is to supplement the existing network with a secondary broadband network.

The latest Hughes ActiveQoS technology enhancements significantly accelerate the performance of broadband networks. Built into the Hughes 4x00 series Branch Gateways as part of the comprehensive suite of HughesON Managed Solutions, ActiveQoS automatically classifies and prioritizes applications based on their traffic flow characteristics—for example, prioritizing emergency data and video over a file backup.

The result is true end-to-end QoS for direct-to-net flows, even those utilizing SSL encryption. Unlike typical split-tunnel implementations, Hughes ActiveQoS technology ensures cloud applications are not impacted by lower priority internet traffic.

4G Acceleration
The increasing trend of mobility and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) initiatives in government has agencies considering the advantages of 4G LTE. However, many agencies often are stymied by numerous practical challenges—including network variability, usage-based billing and the fact that standard QoS implementations cannot track available 4G bandwidth. Hughes has addressed these limitations with an enhancement to Hughes ActiveQoS, which provides real-time tracking of available 4G bandwidth, thereby ensuring end-to-end QoS for better application performance. Working in tandem with ActiveQoS, Hughes ActiveCompression^™ provides more "virtual bandwidth" for better performance without costly upgrades.

"With enhanced ActiveQoS technology built in, our Hughes 4x00 Branch Gateways provide field offices unmatched security while at the same time overcoming the challenges of direct-to-net connectivity and 4G implementations," added Bardo. "As a result, field offices can now take advantage of a more affordable and flexible next-generation WAN that delivers true end-to-end QoS over available broadband, like DSL, cable and 4G."