Propel Launches Award-Winning Personal Bandwidth Management Software

Propel PBM Empowers PC Users to Improve the Performance and Manage the Use of Their Internet Connections

San Jose, Calif. – Feb. 20, 2008 – Propel Software Corporation today announced the general availability of its award-winning Propel® PBM™ software, the first application to provide personal bandwidth management for individual PC users. It is available for download at www.propelpbm.com.

Propel PBM debuted at the prestigious DEMOfall 07 conference and also received a 2007 Emerging Tech award from the Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal.

Propel PBM provides three features that help users get the most from their personal Internet connection:

• It shows which applications are using the PC’s Internet connection in real-time, along with their inbound and outbound transfer rates.
• It shows how much bandwidth each application consumes over time, and total cumulative bandwidth consumption across all applications.
• When multiple applications compete for bandwidth, it automatically gives higher priority to more time-sensitive traffic, dynamically allocating the available bandwidth in real-time based upon the current traffic mix.

Combined, these features give Propel PBM users visibility into which applications are using their Internet connection, and improve the performance of time-sensitive applications – such as VoIP, video calls, streaming media, and web browsing – in the face of competing traffic accessing the same Internet connection.

“Consumers demand high performance when they use the Internet, even as they adopt more and more applications that compete for bandwidth. These factors have come together to fuel the demand for personal bandwidth management,” said David Murray, president and CEO of Propel.  “Propel PBM automatically manages the way competing applications consume bandwidth. It essentially acts as a traffic coordinator right on your PC, giving higher priority to those applications that are more time sensitive. The result is better performance and a higher-quality user experience.”

How It Works

Propel PBM includes a traffic monitor that shows an easy-to-read dashboard display of the applications utilizing a PC’s Internet connection in real-time. It shows both current and cumulative inbound and outbound bandwidth consumption for each application, and the total consumption across all applications, enabling users to detect potential malware and make informed decisions regarding their networking application usage.

Additionally, Propel PBM employs traffic-shaping policies that automatically protect the network traffic of higher priority, time-sensitive applications from lower priority, competing traffic. For example, if a user without Propel PBM receives a VoIP call while uploading a large file or sending a large email attachment, the two network activities may compete for the available outbound bandwidth, which can degrade the quality of the call. With Propel PBM, the VoIP call is given higher priority, protecting its quality, while the file transfer is allowed to continue in the background without impacting the call. As another example, Web browsing can crawl to a halt while large files or emails are uploaded from the same computer. But with the PBM software in place, Web traffic is automatically given higher priority, so Web browsing remains responsive while file transfers and email are allowed to continue at a lower priority. Both of these examples show how PBM can significantly improve the Internet experience and reduce frustration.

“Initial feedback from the broadband Internet community, beta testers, members of the press, and industry analysts has been overwhelmingly positive,” said Mike Samboy, Propel’s vice president of sales and marketing. Chris Shipley, executive producer, DEMOfall 07, has referred to Propel PBM as “breakthrough software for individual PC users who demand high quality when using bandwidth-sensitive applications like VoIP or online gaming.”

Propel PBM software has an MSRP of $29.95 USD, which includes one year of free software updates and traffic-shaping policy updates. For a limited time, Propel PBM is offered at an introductory price of $19.95 USD.  The software includes a free trial feature and is available for download at www.propelpbm.com.

Propel also has an Affiliate Program that allows Internet service providers (ISPs) to offer Propel PBM to their customer base. For more information on the Propel PBM Affiliate Program, please visit www.propelpbm.com/affiliate.

About Propel Software Corporation

Propel Software Corporation is a leading provider of award-winning Internet acceleration and network optimization software. Propel’s flagship product, Propel Accelerator, provides a high-speed experience for users of 802.11 hotspots, wireless data, low-speed broadband and dial-up connections. Propel Accelerator is deployed by hundreds of ISPs in more than 75 countries, making an improved Internet experience available to more than 34 million users. Propel was founded in 1999 by well-known serial technology entrepreneur Steve Kirsch, and is led by a team of seasoned Silicon Valley executives. More information is available at www.propel.com.

Propel, Propel PBM, PBM and Propel Accelerator are trademarks of Propel Software Corporation and may be registered in the U.S. and/or other jurisdictions.  Other trademarks shown are trademarks of their respective owners.  

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