Are you a smartphone app developer? What is the biggest problem you face? The download speed of your app, right? A California, US-located startup called PacketZoom says it has a cure for that.
PacketZoom, which has just launched its app speed-up service, offers what it calls “a protocol-based technology service”, designed specifically for native mobile apps, to tackle “latency”, the time taken for a digital packet to move down from server to device. Latency, as any app developer will vouch for, is the number 1 speed killer. The mobile speead as a service is being marketed as a new way of connecting mobile devices to the Cloud.
For app users, a 1 second delay means concentration starting to move someplace else. In 10 seconds, the user has already left. Zap, your app has just lost a potential user.
PacketZoom, though, claims to reduce the number of roundtrips to the server so that roundtrip latency has less chance of slowing things down. According to an explanation provided on the PacketZoom Website, the initial payload is determined by type of connection, so if you’re on a fast LTE connection, you get more data upfront than if you’re on flaky 3G or 2G connection, & PacketZoom can start with 100kb instead of 15kb.
So why does PacketZoom’s method work?
This startup’s protocol is faster because it cuts down the number of round trips, reduce the HTTP protocol overhead, & eliminates slow starts & aggressive backoffs that are characteristic with TCP. The result? Maximized use of available bandwidth which means faster Content downloads from the Cloud.
What some of you out there may not know is that mobile networks routinely drop a small percentage of packets because of the very nature of mobile technology. The PacketZoomProtocol (PZP) has a built-in mechanism for actively monitoring the network condition as the receiving smart mobile device is experiencing. This allows the PZP to react more intelligently to “dropped packets.”
PacketZoom treats the actual mobile device as the destination for data packets, compared to legacy protocols that use only the device’s IP address.
PacketZoom is said to be easy to integrate. Technically, says the Website, 1 can integrate the SDK without a keyboard. Users can add the framework, copy the init, & that’s it. There’s no need to modify every Content request, or install anything on any servers. Users will also always retain full control over their apps. Using the dashboard, users can turn PZP on & off without having to rebuild/redeploy. Deployment is easy because PacketZoom transparently proxies HTTP requests through its stack without any client or server side code changes required.
PacketZoom was founded in 2013 with the aim of fundamentally improving how networking works for mobile apps.
Packetzoom, at launch, has 2 services that users may choose from. It all depends on how many daily active users (DAU) your app has, & how much Content do you send them per day.
Image Credit: PacketZoom/Twitter
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