Akamai is used for content acceleration of our web traffic.  It is an Internet accelerator available to all users.  By default, this feature is enabled for all NetDocuments repositories.  Learn more. 

In today's hyper-connected world, business performance is directly related to web and mobile performance.  Connected audiences expect instant, reliable, secure access to websites and applications – from any device, anywhere.  Akamai helps us engage consumers with a fast, personalized online experiences.  Akamai applies intelligent optimization techniques from the network, to the device, to the browser in order to deliver fast, rich, dynamic web experiences. 

Riverbed

Riverbed Technology sells an appliance called Steelhead to increase the performance of data flow between two peered appliances, improving efficiency and latency for either Internet or MPLS line. 

Founded in 2002, Riverbed provides bandwidth optimization and content delivery acceleration, and is now one of the leading providers of WAN optimization worldwide with annual sales over $800 million dollars.  By selecting the Riverbed appliance, NetDocuments users can improve the overall service experience for uploading and downloading content. 

Without Riverbed, NetDocuments works well under standard Internet lines and even better under the Akamai content delivery network with its edge servers worldwide.  Akamai acceleration is provided without additional charge as part of the basic NetDocuments Service.  The usage of Riverbed with NetDocuments is available as a paid option.  However, we expect the majority of our customers will simply use the standard Akamai service and not Riverbed. 

The best use case scenarios for Riverbed are:

Large offices with high user count

International offices with high latency and a greater distance to NetDocuments Global Datacenters

Offices with users who tend to upload and download unusually large document sizes

Offices with limited latency or bandwidth

Offices with high sensitivity to performance issues. 

MPLS

Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) is a scalable, protocol-independent transport designed for end-to-end circuits across a private WAN.  NetDocuments allows MPLS line to be dropped directly into our Global Datacenter, allowing our customers to by-pass the general Internet and use private lines for data traffic. 

Under Option B (Dedicated Customer-owned Riverbed Architecture), where you acquire your own Steelheads in the NetDocuments Global Datacenter, you have the option to either go through a private MPLS line or standard Internet.  Under Option A (Multi-Tenant Riverbed Architecture) you would not want an MPLS line.  With Riverbed appliances on both sides, an MPLS line would not necessarily increase performance, but would improve predictability against Internet service fluctuations. 

If you want an MPLS connection, you must procure your own line from an internet provider.  We are available for any discussions on this subject.  The cost of an MPLS line drop into the datacenter is $1000 per month, per line, including the necessary router.  In addition there is a $1000 one-time charge for the initial connection.  The actual cost of the line will need to be paid to the MPLS Vendor.  If your MPLS provider is not one of the above vendors, arrangements would need to be made for such connection.