Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

0 General

0.1 What is MTP/IP?
0.2 How is it used?
0.3 Who can use MTP?
0.4 Who benefits from MTP and how?
0.5 Does it really work?
0.6 I've heard others make such claims before.  Why should I believe you?
0.7 How can I learn more?

1 Technology

1.0 Is MTP/IP compatible with existing networks?
1.1 Where does MTP fit in with other acronyms like HTTP, PPP, TCP, etc?
1.2 How much faster is MTP compared to TCP?
1.3 Why is MTP faster than TCP?
1.4 Is MTP a compression scheme?
1.5 Is MTP a custom TCP implementation?
1.6 Don't all your gains come at the expense of third-party traffic?
1.7 Is MTP always faster than TCP?
1.8 Is MTP ever slower than TCP?
1.9 I downloaded a .DLL that says it's XX times faster than TCP.  Why is MTP better?
1.10 How scalable is MTP?
1.11 XYZ Corp is marketing a UDP based protocol and says it's really fast.  Why is MTP better?
1.12 Is MTP a reliable protocol?
1.13 Is MTP meant to replace TCP?

2 Deployment

2.1 What is needed to use MTP?
2.2 Does the end user need to install anything (kernel drivers, DLLs, applications, etc.)?
2.3 Does MTP require changes or upgrades to the operating system?
2.4 Does MTP require special hardware?
2.5 Does MTP work with firewalls, NAT, DHCP, PPPoE, etc?
2.6 Is MTP compatible with proxies?
2.7 Does MTP require that a specific UDP port number be used?
2.8 Does MTP need to be adopted as a standard before it can be used?
2.9 Does MTP need to be present at both ends?
2.10 Can I try it?

3 Security

3.1 Is MTP more secure than TCP?
3.2 Does MTP support encryption?
3.3 Does MTP work with encrypted VPNs and IPsec?
3.4 Is MTP vulnerable to any of the Denial of Service attacks used against TCP?
3.5 Is it possible for a Denial of Service attack to be designed against MTP?
3.6 Does MTP have any vulnerabilities similar to the recent TCP session termination issue?

0 General

0.1 What is MTP/IP?

MTP/IP, or Multipurpose Transaction Protocol^® technology, is transport software that moves data much more quickly and efficiently than traditional TCP/IP technology.

0.2 How is it used?

MTP/IP is built in to end-user software such as the ExpeDat^™ file transfer application, the SyncDat^™ directory replication application, and the HyperGate^™ web accelerator.  Because it is software built on top of existing network standards, it can be installed and running in seconds.  These applications are also designed for easy embedding within other systems.  Software Development Kits are also available, allowing application developers to greatly improve the speed, efficiency, and features of their own products.

0.3 Who can use MTP/IP?

MTP/IP applications can be used by anyone needing high performance, end-to-end data transport.  Read our Motorola Case Study for an example of how MTP ExpeDat has improved the overall productivity of Motorola simulation clusters by 40%.

0.4 Who benefits from MTP/IP and how?

Application developers benefit by improving their product's performance and features and thus making it more attractive to their customers.  End-users benefit from faster speeds, new functionality, and better reliability, and up to 50% savings on infrastructure costs.  Bandwidth providers and consumers benefit from greater hardware utilization by fitting more traffic onto existing networks.

0.5 Does it really work?

Yes.  MTP/IP is a robust technology that has been tested in real-world environments and applications.  You can find out for yourself with any of our free trial downloads.

0.6 I've heard others make such claims before.  Why should I believe you?

Several companies market technologies to improve network performance, each with significant limitations:

• Compression, which has a lot of overhead, can compromise data quality, and only works if the data isn't already compressed or encoded;
• Caching, which requires a high degree of data repetition and does nothing for unique or dynamic data flows;
• Prioritization, which sacrifices the performance of some data for the benefit of other data;
• TCP tuning, which sacrifices adaptability to improve performance in a particular stable environment; and
• UDP streamers, which send data packets at a fixed rate and, at best, react to flooding after the fact.

MTP/IP is none of these: it is a unique, patented, completely original transport protocol designed to adapt to any network path for maximum efficiency with minimum disruption.

0.7 How can I learn more?

Read the rest of the FAQ and our website, call us at 877-292-2280, or send a message to info@DataExpedition.com

1 Technology

1.0 Is MTP/IP compatible with existing networks?

Yes!  MTP/IP is built on top of the existing UDP/IP standard, which is supported by all hardware and operating systems that are compliant with Internet standards.  MTP adds sophisticated flow-control, error-recovery, and session management layers on top of UDP/IP.  This allows it to provide new performance and efficiency in software that works with existing systems.

1.1 Where does MTP/IP fit in with other acronyms like HTTP, PPP, TCP, etc?

The Internet is often organized into four protocol layers: application, transport, network, and link.  This is called the Protocol Stack (similar to the 7 layer OSI stack).

• The application layer refers to protocols that manage data content and are not concerned with the details of how the data gets moved.  Examples are web (HTTP), email (SMTP), file transfer (FTP), and news groups (NNTP).
• The actual data movement is usually left up to the transport layer, most commonly the Transmission Control Protocol (TCP/IP).  The transport layer handles error correction and flow control, but leaves the routing of data across the network to the underlying network layer.
• The Internet is pretty much defined by the use of the Internet Protocol (IP) at the network layer to route data across the many links, or hops, which may lie between machines.
• The protocols used to physically communicate data across those links (ethernet, FDDI, PPP, v.90 etc) make up the link layer.  Most of these are related to physical hardware and many can be layered on top of each-other.

MTP is a transport protocol, so it sits between applications and the network, providing fast and reliable delivery of data.

1.2 How much faster is MTP compared to TCP?

• Two to seven times faster throughput (kilobytes per second) across high speed Wide Area Networks is typical, occasionally up to twelve times faster;
• Two to six times as many transactions per second as TCP on all networks;
• Forty times higher latency tolerance;
• Ten times longer path tolerance (hop count); and
• Ten times more congestion (packet loss) tolerance than TCP.

1.3 Why is MTP faster than TCP?

TCP's design is over thirty-years old and it makes a lot of assumptions about the network that are now just plain wrong.  As a result, TCP wastes a lot of time and bandwidth causing congestion that it must then correct.  MTP is much more careful and is able to fully utilize the resources that TCP wastes.

1.4 Is MTP a compression scheme?

No.  Applications which use MTP may choose to compress the data they send, but MTP itself does not rely on reducing the size of the data: it actually sends the data faster.

1.5 Is MTP a custom TCP implementation?

No.  MTP is completely unrelated to TCP.

1.6 Don't all your gains come at the expense of third-party traffic?

No.  While any new network traffic will impact existing traffic, kilobyte for kilobyte MTP has less of an effect on ambient TCP data flow than TCP itself.  Much of MTP's performance gain comes from its better utilization of otherwise wasted resources. MTP even has bandwidth management features built-in, giving you the option to precisely control how resources are allocated.

1.7 Is MTP always faster than TCP?

For transaction processing, yes.  For throughput, not always: MTP can't move data faster than your network hardware.  If you have a slow connection, a very short network path, and there is no congestion, then TCP might perform well.  Many factors can adversely affect TCP performance, making TCP difficult predict. Try our network analysis software to compare MTP/IP and TCP/IP on your network right now.

1.8 Is MTP ever slower than TCP?

No, not in a properly functioning IP network.  However, misconfigured routers, firewalls, or other misbehaving network components can affect all network performance in unexpected ways.  See our Analyzing Network Performance technical note for tips on making sure your network is functioning correctly.

1.9 I downloaded a .DLL that says it's XX times faster than TCP.  Why is MTP better?

What you downloaded is a "tuned" version of TCP that has been adjusted to perform better under specific conditions of link speed, latency, and loss.  But TCP does not scale well: if those exact conditions are violated, it will not only lose the performance advantages, but it may perform worse than a standard TCP.  The more TCP is tuned to work well in one set of circumstances, the worse it will fail when those circumstances change.  MTP is very scalable.

1.10 How scalable is MTP?

It has been tested and performs well at link speeds from 14.4 kilobits per second to 10 gigabits per second, at latencies as low as 1 millisecond and as high as 20,000 milliseconds, and at packet loss rates from 0% to 50%.  (If you've got a network outside this range, we'd love to test on it!)

1.11 XYZ Corp is marketing a UDP based protocol and says it's really fast.  Why is MTP better?

Most such protocols simply dump data into the network as fast as possible and hope that some of it will get through.  Whatever doesn't get through, they try to send again later.  Flooding the network like this causes massive congestion and packet-loss.  Ultimately, such protocols spend almost as much time correcting for lost data as they save by flooding.  Plus they severely degrade third-party traffic in the process.  While MTP also happens to be built on top of UDP/IP, MTP performs very careful flow control and error recovery.  MTP does not flood the network, actually causes less congestion than TCP, and because of its greater efficiency is able to reliably move data faster than flooding mechanisms.

1.12 Is MTP a reliable protocol?

Yes, by default MTP guarantees delivery of data.  MTP also has unreliable modes and APIs for applications which value performance over reliability.

1.13 Is MTP meant to replace TCP?

For the vast majority of applications and network conditions, MTP provides superior performance to TCP.  There are only a few applications in which TCP has any advantage (for example, character-by-character interactive applications such as telnet).  However, MTP and TCP can peacefully co-exist in the same network and even in the same application.  An application can easily support both, automatically using MTP when communicating with a system that supports MTP, and otherwise falling back on TCP.

2 Deployment

2.1 What is needed to use MTP?

Simply install an MTP application.  Any two computers on an IP network can communicate using MTP/IP software, such as our ExpeDat FTP replacement, or our HyperGate web accelerator.

2.2 Does the end user need to install anything else (kernel drivers, DLLs, applications, etc.)?

No.  The MTP SDK's consist of statically linked code libraries which are compiled directly into the application.  MTP applications require no additional DLLs, drivers, or hardware.

2.3 Does MTP require changes or upgrades to the operating system?

No.  Any OS that supports the TCP/IP stack will support MTP.

2.4 Does MTP require special hardware?

No.  MTP works with any hardware that meets IPv4 or higher standards.

2.5 Does MTP work with firewalls, NAT, DHCP, PPPoE, etc?

Yes.  The network perceives MTP as standard UDP traffic and MTP requires no unusual handling.  Firewalls may need to be configured to allow MTP traffic to pass through, or MTP can use any UDP port that is already available.  See our Firewall Configuration technical note for tips on configuring such devices.

2.6 Is MTP compatible with proxies?

Yes.  Proxy servers only deal with TCP traffic for specific application types and will ignore UDP based traffic, such as MTP.  Some MTP applications, such as HyperGate, can be configured to run on a proxy machine, providing their own proxy functionality.

2.7 Does MTP require that a specific UDP port number be used?

No.  You are free to choose whatever port number is most convenient for your application or end-user environment.

2.8 Does MTP need to be adopted as a standard before it can be used?

No.  Because it is built on top of existing Internet standards, MTP applications are already deployed on today's Internet.

2.9 Does MTP need to be present at both ends?

Yes, since MTP is a communications protocol, it must be present at both ends of a path in order to accelerate that path.  As noted above, MTP can co-exist with TCP to provide legacy support. For example, the HyperGate web gateway works with and along-side existing TCP based web browsers and servers.

2.10 Can I try it?

Yes! You can download trial versions of our HyperGate and ExpeDat applications now.  For a trial of our Software Development Kits, please call or email.

3 Security

3.1 Is MTP more secure than TCP?

Yes.  MTP is at least as secure as TCP in all respects and is less vulnerable to several types of attacks.

3.2 Does MTP support encryption?

Yes.  DEI's ExpeDat, SyncDat, and HyperGate applications both support AES encryption and HyperGate uses SSL.  The SDKs support the use of any encryption mechanism.

3.3 Does MTP work with encrypted VPNs and IPsec?

Yes.  MTP will operate over any VPN which supports UDP/IP.  Note that SSL and other tunneling VPNs do not fully support UDP/IP.  IPsec VPNs are recommended for maximum performance and security.

3.4 Is MTP vulnerable to any of the Denial of Service attacks used against TCP?

No.  Due to its completely different architecture, attacks designed against TCP will not affect MTP.

3.5 Is it possible for a Denial of Service attack to be designed against MTP?

Yes.  It is not possible to completely eliminate the threat of DoS attacks when operating on a public network.  However MTP's low-overhead design and more secure packet validation does minimize the potential impact of such attacks.  MTP also provides application developers with better tools for identifying and squelching suspicious activity.

3.6 Does MTP have any vulnerabilities similar to the recent TCP session termination issue?

No.  Unlike TCP, MTP datagrams carry information specifically designed to verify that each arriving datagram belongs to a valid transaction.