Fujitsu has taken the wraps of a new data transfer protocol which it claims is 30 times faster than TCP and will help speed up mobile web browsing and file downloads and reduce virtual desktop latency.

The new proprietary tech is based on the user datagram protocol (UDP) employed for streaming media. As such, it can distinguish between dropped packets and those which haven’t yet reached their destination, thereby removing the need for unnecessary data retransmission, the firm said.

Also included is control tech designed to ensure UDP transmissions don’t hog too much bandwidth by measuring in real-time how much bandwidth is available and ensuring other TCP comms are not overwhelmed.

The final piece of the announcement is technology which converts TCP traffic into the new proprietary protocol, thus speeding up a range of applications including those used for file transfer, virtual desktop and web browsing.

The new protocol comes as a software add-on to UDP – taking advantage of the high speeds it enables while avoiding problems of packet loss and packets traveling in the wrong direction which often hamper UDP communications, Fujitsu said.

In tests between Japan and the US, the new protocol enabled a 30x improvement in throughput for file transfers compared to TCP and reduced packet delivery latency to 1/6 of previous levels.

Fujitsu expects a wide range of uses for the new data transmission tech including mobile comms, inter-datacentre data transfer and virtual desktops, and said it will be commercialised in fiscal 2013 as a middleware product. ®