ELSA Cable - Manual (Page 14)

Introducing the ELSA MicroLink Cable
ELSA MicroLink Cable
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Network operators can take advantage of this structure to provide regional content in
addition to the Internet. This can be accomplished by setting up Web servers that do not
need to be accessible from the Internet. These can then be used for special information
services for network participants, such as the programs of local cinemas, regional news,
information for clubs and special-interest groups, and so on—essentially, everything
that is of interest to the regional cable network participants, but that might be
superfluous on the Web.
Proxy servers
The network operator can also use local servers to speed up access to the Internet.
These proxy servers are used for the intermediate storage of information from the
Internet.
Proxy: Stand-in Every page requested from the Internet by participants in the local cable network section
is stored in this proxy server for a specific period of time. As a rule, the storage period
on the proxy server is determined by the cable network operator. If another participant
requests the same page, the proxy server can serve the page directly without having to
find it on the Internet first.
This is generally beneficial, for example by speeding up downloads considerably.
However, when calling up information subject to frequent changes such as stock prices,
accessing the current Web page is usually a must. In such a case the version of the page
stored on the proxy server can already be out of date or incorrect. If this could be relevant
to you, please check with your network operators whether they deploy proxy servers.
Clicking the Refresh button will download the current information directly from the
Internet, however.