Easy Access to Legacy and Specialty WANs
The Freeway^® line of data communications servers allows client computers on TCP/IP LANs to connect with legacy and specialty WANs. Supporting a wide variety of protocols, Freeways enable client computers to access real-time data in virtually any networking environment, including financial data services, utilities, transportation, retail, government, and the military. Freeways are fully programmable with a flexible, modular design that can easily be modified to meet changing data communications needs.

Protocols for Any Environment
With over 25 years of legacy and specialty protocol experience, Protogate's employees have developed one of the industry's most extensive protocol libraries. Over 100 legacy and specialty protocols are available for use on Freeway servers, including X.25, HDLC, BSC, Async, financial market protocols, and a wide variety of military and radar protocols. A single Freeway can accommodate multiple protocols with a different protocol running on each communications board in the enclosure.

Multiple Processors for Maximum Throughput
Freeways are based on a multi-processor architecture and highly integrated server software. The WAN serial ports are managed by Intelligent Communication Processor boards (ICPs); each ICP has its own CPU and memory. LAN communications are provided by a powerful CPU on the motherboard which assembles WAN data into packets and distributes it to users on the LAN.

Highly Scaleable
The Freeway family includes a broad range of models and configurations which can accommodate any size installation from small remote locations to large central offices. Freeway models support from 2 to 128 WAN serial ports of legacy and specialty data in a single enclosure. LAN options include Ethernet, Fast-Ethernet, and support for Dual Ethernet. Hot swappable power supplies are also available on some models.

Toolkits for Developing Custom Protocols and Applications
Protogate offers two sets of software development tools for creating custom networking solutions. The Protocol Toolkit supports development of custom WAN protocols for use on Freeway communications servers. The Server Resident Application (SRA) Toolkit provides a development environment for writing custom applications that offload processor-intensive communications tasks to the Freeway, including functions such as data compression, byte swapping, character translation, encryption, and protocol conversion. Moving these applications to the Freeway can yield dramatic performance improvements in client computers.

Features and Benefits

• Allows TCP/IP LAN clients to access legacy and specialty WANs
• Supports over 100 legacy and specialty protocols
• Software toolkits allow rapid development of custom protocols and network applications
• Wide choice of models and configurations provides maximum flexibility for expansion and upgrades
• Highly scaleable architecture supports 2 to 128 WAN serial ports per enclosure
• Comprehensive network management via SNMP
• SCTP support (Stream Control Transport Protocol)