A web accelerator is a proxy server that reduces web site access times. It is similar to an operating system cache but meant for website delivery, that is, an intermediate between the web server and the scripting language that performs caching functions that aid in allowing web scripts to be delivered the requesting client faster than without the accelerator. The only drawback to this system is that if web scripts are constantly changed the cache needs to be emptied to ensure only the new versions of server scripts are sent to the client.
Web accelerators may use several techniques to achieve this reduction:
- They may cache recently or frequently accessed documents so they may be sent to the client with less latency or at a faster transfer rate than the remote server could.
- They may prefetch documents that are likely to be accessed in the near future.
- They may compress documents to a smaller size, for example by reducing the quality of images or by sending only what's changed since the document was last requested.
- They may filter out unnecessary documents so they are not sent to the client at all.
These applications generally serve to improve dial-up speeds, however Google's Web Accelerator is specifically designed for improving broadband access to the sites. Moreover they are limited to websites only and cannot improve speeds of downloads or streaming or any other internet applications.
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