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Our Virtual Servers are redundantly connected to the Internet through multiple providers. For example, our Orem facility is internetworked via two of the largest providers of Internet lines in the world- Verio and Sprint. iServer is also continually evaluating router data in order to prioritize what future connections need to be secured. Additional connections not only add redundancy to our system, but more importantly minimize delays in data transfer.
Transfer Capacity
iServer maintains two OC3 connections with Verio and an additional DS3
via Sprint. A fiber optic OC3 is capable of transferring roughly 155 Mbps
of data per second, making an OC3 approximately three times faster than a DS3
line and about ninety times faster than a T-1
line (many hosting companies still only have access to DS3 and T-1 lines to
connect to the Internet). The chart below shows how important the right
Internet connection is for transmitting information. For example, to
transfer 680 MB of data using a T-1 line would take approximately one hour.
The same amount of data can be transmitted via an OC3 in less than 35 seconds.
| Type of Line | Transfer Capacity | Time to Transfer 680 MB |
| Standard Modem | 28.8 Kbps | 53 h, 43 m, 53 s |
| 1-channel ISDN | 64 Kbps | 24 h, 11 m, 8 s |
| 2-channel ISDN | 128 Kbps | 12 h, 5 m, 34 s |
| T-1/DS1 | 1.544 Mbps | 0 h, 58 m, 43 s |
| DS3 | 44.736 Mbps | 0 h, 2 m, 2 s |
| OC3 | 155 Mbps | 34.95 s |
Preferential Routing
The Internet is a large and complex aggregation of network hardware
connected together by transmission gateways on diverse backbones
(e.g. the Sprint backbone or UUNET backbone). A location where two or
more backbones exchange traffic is termed a Network Access Point (NAP).
There are several major NAPs on the Internet (such as MAE West, MAE
East, etc) each of which is plagued by latency and packet loss
because of the amount of traffic which passes through these points.
When you connect to a remote server, your request is routed through the shortest sequence of gateways available. If the host you are connecting to is located on a different backbone than your ISP, it is very likely that your path to the remote host will include a major NAP. This can cause delays, loss, and sometimes complete failure of data transmission.
Now consider that your Internet presence is that remote host and your prospective customers are attempting to access your web or ftp site. If your Internet presence is not hosted with a provider that has redundant connections to the Internet, visitors to your site will experience sluggishness and in some cases failure to connect.
Because the iServer Virtual Server System is hosted in an environment redundantly connected to the Internet via diverse carriers or backbones, your site can take advantage of "preferential routing". Basically this means that visitors to your site will not need to route through saturated NAP gateways in order to connect to your site. Instead requests are routed directly through the backbone to your iServer Virtual Server.
Tracing Your Route
The "traceroute" utility ("tracert" on Windows 95/NT¹) attempts
to trace the route an Internet Protocol (IP) packet would follow to
a specified remote host. For example, you can view the route
between our facility and your computer by using our
web-based traceroute
script. You can also view how "close" we are to the following
backbone providers:
The traceroute output indicates how "close" you are to a remote host. The fewer gateways or "hops" between you and the remote host the better. Asterisks "*" or exclamation marks "!" indicate possible packet loss along the route.
¹ - You can use the Windows 95/NT version of traceroute, "tracert",
by opening up a MS-DOS or Command Prompt window. At the prompt type
"tracert REMOTE_HOST", where REMOTE_HOST is the remote host on the Internet
you are attempting to contact. This will display the sequence of gateways
or "hops" between your computer and the remote host.
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