adding to the strategic partnership with AKAMikaze ...
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Internet firms aim to make Web more local
December 14, 1999 07:11 PM
NEW YORK, Dec 14 (Reuters) - A group of Internet companies will meet next year to work out a common language that may open the Internet to more services serving local customers and attracting local advertising.
In February, a group including online advertising network DoubleClick Inc. (DCLK), shopper profiler Engage Technologies Inc. (ENGA) and data center operator Exodus Communications Inc. (EXDS), will meet to create the Internet Content Adaptation Protocol (ICAP), standards aimed at making it easier to quickly deliver various services over the Internet.
The new standards will help put other services, such as antivirus programs, language translators and filters closer to the areas where users request them. It also will allow advertisers to place ads closer where their prospective customers may be.
"It's a common language for communication," said Jeff Young, marketing manager for Akamai Technologies Inc. (AKAM), one of the companies sponsoring the meeting.
The forum will send the new common language standards to the Internet Engineering Task Force, a group that oversees Internet standards, in early 2000.
Network Appliance Corp. (NTAP) and Akamai, companies that speed delivery of Web pages over the Internet, are hosting the forum. Network Appliances and Akamai work by decentralizing Web traffic. They distribute and store popular pages closer to users, avoiding longer routes and more heavily congested areas.
"This really represents a fundamental shift in the types of applications that can be Internet based, Edward Sharp, Network Solutions senior product manager said.
The standards will also save money by allowing different applications to fit into Akamai or Network Appliances delivery systems without being specially modified, tested or redesigned. |
