Last week at Macworld Expo, Rockestream, Inc., released Mac versions of RocketStream, a software-only file transfer acceleration solution that can move files up to 200 times faster than an FTP file transfer. This first Mac release is called version 1.2. RocketStream released Windows versions last year.

The company said that a 10 GB file can be moved between Tokyo and Angeles in 14 minutes instead of the 22 hours it would take over the Internet.

"Our biggest competitor is Federal Express," said a spokesperson.

The company said that RocketStream can be one-twentieth the cost of hardware WAN accelerators and is as faster or faster.

RocketStream uses a modified UDP protocol or its propriety PDP protocol to get around the latency that is built into TCP/IP communications. This latency grows with longer distances, resulting in small bandwidth utilization. RocketStream yields much higher bandwidth utilization than FTP transfers. RocketStream file transfers are reliable, according to the company, with checks on all received data.

RockStream file transfers also provide lossless, on-the-fly compression and encryption. The software also includes automation features, such as synchronization and the ability to check a server for new versions of a file.

The software can work in a client-server configuration or a point-to-point configuration. There are three configurations of the software available for Mac OS X Tiger and later and Windows 2000 and later:

• RocketStream Uplink, a client for uploading and downloading
• RocketStream Station, a client with a limited server, for both sending and receiving on a workstation
• RocketStream Server, a full multithreaded server with administration functions

Each of these is available in an Express and a Pro version.

RocketStream plans produce a Linux version of the server in the near future.