Fully-Integrated Satellite DVB Router

New router from Philips and Helius integrates satellite and traditional land-line Internet services into a single unit, increasing throughput to users by 200 to 400 percent.

by Wayne Kawamoto [February 23, 2000]

Philips Digital Networks, a business group that's part of the Philips Consumer Electronics division, and Helius Inc., a developer of data-via-satellite solutions, are collaborating on satellite router technology that incorporates Helius' software into Philips' products. Working with Helius, Philips is developing and offering products that fill the growing demand for IP multicasting Internet services.

In the agreement, Philips' products are being enhanced with Helius technology, and Philips does the marketing and supply chain management of the products. The CleverCast Router, a routing device that's based on open standards and integrates satellite RF and traditional land-line Internet services into a single unit, is the first of a range of IP-routing solutions that Philips and Helius are co-developing. According to Philips, the CleverCast Router supports an unlimited number of multicast clients and provides hundreds of concurrent users with high-speed Internet access. By incorporating Helius Optimized™ technology, throughput to users increases some 200 to 400 percent over standard delivery systems.

The Philips CleverCast Router plugs into any local area network and provides high-speed, round-trip IP unicasting (Internet browsing) and multicasting, IP multicast routing, and other services. It works by sending outbound requests to the Internet Service Provider by means of a phone line or ISDN.

Philips' illustration of its network.

Network users then receive inward-bound replies at a greatly accelerated rate via the high-speed satellite link. Philips claims that the CleverCast Router supports an unlimited number of multicast clients and provides hundreds of concurrent users with high-speed Internet access, increasing throughput by between 200 and 400 percent. The router uses Caldera's Linux kernel.

Availability
The Philips CleverCast Router with Helius Technology is available today. You can contact Philips at 1-800-962-4287 or contact Helius at 1-888-764-9020, or use Helius' information request form.

First sale
American Multiplexer Corp., Network Services (AMC) was the first company to purchase this router.

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