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 You may be asking, "just what is a cache server?" Well, here’s some background:

A cache/proxy server is a server that sits between your computer and the rest of the Internet which stores frequently accessed web pages and graphics. The web pages are stored in a "cache" of the most commonly as well as most recently accessed sites. The cache server is located at OWT, and can grab data down from the Internet much faster than your computer will, and can make your web browsing much faster. In addition, our cache server is programmed to determine which backbone T1 connection to OWT would provide the fastest connection to the site and to return the site from that connection - resulting in much faster performance for virtually all web page.

While we feel this is a great feature we also recognize circumstances where caching is not desired. Some secure servers will not work properly through a proxy server and some dynamic pages won't display the most current content when using a cache server. Unlike many (most?) providers we do not force you to use a cache server to retrieve web pages. You can turn off the feature if you have any problems. We do feel that for most users this feature will provide a much improved web experience.

So now you’re asking, "how does this thing work?" That is quite simple, normally when you retrieve a web page, your computer asks the web site to send that page to you. Now, the proxy server sits between your web browser and the rest of the world. Whenever you request a web page, your web browser (such as Explorer) first asks the proxy if it already has it. If it does, that page or file is sent directly to you from the cache. If not, our computer goes out and gets the page, gives it to you and keeps a copy for itself. The next time you, or anyone else, access that web page, a request is sent to the remote host to see if the page has been updated, and if not, it is read directly from the hard disk of the local host. This means that for popular web sites, such as search engines, the web page will be sent from our machine, reducing the load on our internet link and giving you the page MUCH FASTER!

Now here’s how you can set up your computer to use our three caching servers. Note that you may also enter the same settings for FTP proxy to improve FTP downloading as well!