Built on a solid foundation of IP features and functionality the HX System is the solution for satellite routing where full IP functionality is required together with performance. The HX System provides advanced bandwidth management capabilities which allow operators the ability to custom design various Quality of Service (QOS) and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) on a per remote basis. Being a pure IP based solution the HX System incorporates a strong set of IP functions and features.

IP Protocols
Each HX remote terminal incorporates a full set of unicast and multicast IP protocols, including TCP and UDP and the protocols carried on top of them (HTTP, SSL, RTP, SIP, etc.). The routers also support other IP protocols such as ICMP, IGMPv3 and other commonly required protocols.:

Routing Protocols
The Hughes System enables network interoperability through a wide range of routing protocols, including RIPv2, BGP4, ICMP and ARP. Each HX remote terminal can be configured using policy based routing (PBR) so as to provide the network connectivity and performance demanded by the user. Features such as VRRP (Virtual Router Redundancy Protocol) allow seamless support for alternate path routing and VLAN Tagging support effective management of multiple subnetworks on a common LAN.

IP Services
The Hughes HX routers provide IP services that are of benefit for both enterprise and consumer applications such as flexible addressing with support for Network Address Translation (NAT) and Port Address Translation (PAT). The capability of the HX router to act as either a DHCP server or DHCP relay provides higher performance. Integrated support for Access Control Lists (ACL) and firewall services further enhances the feature and functionality of the HX solution.

Performance Features
To minimize the effects of satellite latency the HX System offers a range of integrated acceleration and Quality of Service (QoS) features. These features include prioritization of the IP traffic based on TOS or DSCP values together with Policy Based Routing rules provides an easy way to achieve Weighted Fair Queuing for enterprise applications. Integrated TurboPage is available to provide HTTP acceleration by applying pre-fetch of objects.

Network Security
User security is key feature of the HX System and is achieved through multiple levels of security. At the transmission level the HX System employs DES encryption of the DVB-S2/ACM outbound channel. Integrated with the outbound DES encryption is a conditional access system which ensures that the right router gets the right data and prevents unauthorized “eavesdropping”. At the IP level the HX System has the option to provide bidirectional IPSec encryption, using the Internet Key Exchange (IKE) protocol for dynamic session keying. With the IPSec option the HX System is fully FIPS 140-2 certified.