LANSPEED is a network file transfer protocol designed to allow heterogeneous computer Operating Systems to transfer files within a Local Area Network (LAN). The file format conversion for the various Operating Systems is handled internally to LANSPEED and is transparent to the user. For example, transferring a file from a UNIX system to a VAX/VMS system is a simple one-step process, with the file being converted "on the fly" to the destination system's file format (VAX/VMS, in this case).

On some Operating Systems, LANSPEED can co-exist with other networking protocols on the same computer. The UNIX variants, Windows 95, and WINDOWS-XP/Pro systems easily support the co-existence of multiple networking protocols, thus LANSPEED can comfortably co-exist with other protocols on these system types.

LANSPEED's transport protocol is based on the User Datagram Protocol (UDP), a subset of the popular TCP/IP protocol. The file transfer protocol within LANSPEED is proprietary. Co-existence with other protocols is accomplished in the following manner.

As mentioned above, LANSPEED uses UDP as its transport. The existing TCP/IP stack used within the UNIX variants and the Windows 9X and NT Operating Systems has built-in support for UDP, as do most TCP/IP stacks. LANSPEED assigns an unused UDP port number for its specific use within the user's LAN environment. This port number is then used by the TCP/IP stack to identify network packets which "belong" to LANSPEED. Incoming and outgoing UDP packets are then multiplexed and de-multiplexed accordingly and routed to the proper LANSPEED software module. As long as this UDP port number remains exclusive to the LANSPEED network software, the TCP/IP stack will properly route the packets into and out of the various LANSPEED software modules, avoiding any confusion with any other network protocol's data and control packets. This UDP port number is defined in the TCP/IP-specific "services" file as follows:

The TCP/IP software reads this file at system initialization and dedicates the specified port number to the LANSPEED server and its associated software modules. TCP/IP will then route incoming and outgoing LANSPEED packets to the proper LANSPEED requestor.

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