Hughes Introduces ActiveClassifier™ Technology For Wide Area Enterprise-Grade Networks

GERMANTOWN, Md., Dec. 15, 2016

Hughes ActiveClassifier is a WAN optimization technology that automatically analyzes traffic flows in real time, intelligently classifying business critical applications such as POS, video, VoIP, and cloud apps. ActiveClassifier ensures applications are mapped to the right class of service, and in conjunction with other Hughes ActiveTechnologies, delivers effective prioritization over the WAN.  Furthermore, ActiveClassifier technology eliminates the onerous administrative overhead typically associated with defining fixed traffic rules and access lists.

Ideal for multi-branch organizations seeking to cost-effectively deliver high-performance, high-bandwidth networking to branch locations – including retail, restaurant, hospitality, financial services and government agencies – ActiveClassifier opens the way to augment or even replace their expensive MPLS networks using broadband via cable, DSL, or LTE. ActiveClassifier includes domain-based classification that enables an enterprise to prioritize business-critical cloud applications and websites over general employee or guest Internet traffic.

"Networks are getting hit with more demands every day as organizations adopt a flood of new applications – many of which are cloud based," said Mike Cook, senior vice president, North American Division at Hughes. "Many times the applications have not been introduced through the IT or Network teams, potentially causing bandwidth conflicts and bringing the network to its knees. ActiveClassifier helps protect all critical applications by identifying and dynamically prioritizing the traffic and adapting to the new application mix. Low-cost broadband connections can now be used in the context of a high-performance Enterprise WAN, helping keep businesses one step ahead of the next big bandwidth demand."

In an independent evaluation by The Tolly Group, Hughes ActiveTechnologies demonstrated highly effective prioritization of transactional traffic (5X improvement) and multiple web-based applications (7X improvement) on a congested broadband transport.  These improvements resulted in significantly faster application processing times and an improved end-user experience.

How It Works
ActiveClassifier is a premises-based technology built into Hughes branch gateway devices. It automatically identifies different types of data and applications, and tags them with specific priority settings to deliver real-time quality of service over the WAN. For busy or understaffed IT departments, ActiveClassifier eliminates the time-consuming process of configuring rules to classify and prioritize traffic, using advanced heuristics algorithms to do these functions.