Alliance Pushes Internet Access Standard
Dec 14, 1999 (Tech Web - CMP via COMTEX) -- A handful of Internet
companies are joining forces tocreate a standard that connects multiple
Web functionson any Internet access device.
Akamai Technologies, a Cambridge, Mass., upstart Internet content
distributor, and Network Appliance, Sunnyvale, Calif., are leading the
group, which includes Allaire, BroadVision, Exodus Communications,
Finjan Software, Network Associates, Novell, Open Market, and Oracle,
among others.
The group wants to create a standard, called the Internet Content
Adaptation Protocol (ICAP), that lets a variety of content, such as
advertising, virus scanning, and filtering, operate across different
Internet edge devices. The standard proposal will be presented to the
Internet Engineering Task Force early next year, forum members said.
They are doing something similar to Inktomi, Foster City, Calif., said
Joel Yaffe, an analyst at Giga Information Group, a Boston consulting
firm.
Last week, Inktomi, Web hosting company Digital Island, San Francisco,
and Sun Microsystems, Palo Alto, Calif., forged an agreement to improve
Internet performance in a similar manner as that proposed by ICAP.
Digital Island, an ISP, will deploy 5,000 Sun servers that use
Inktomi's content delivery software. The companies plan to co-locate
these servers at network service provider sites in 350 metropolitan
areas, company executives said.
"This announcement looks like a full frontal assault on Inktomi," Yaffe
said. "All of these companies are trying to give users a richer
experience on the Internet."
Steve Robins, a senior analyst at the Yankee Group, said the closer
network content is to the user, the easier it is for the user to access
it. However, there needs to be a platform to access that content.
To that end, Inktomi and Akamai are rushing to do something similar,
which is to build a platform for Web services. With ICAP, Akamai is
attempting to take a leadership position in developing a standard for
applications at the edge of the network, Robins said.
Sun last week also took an equity stake in Digital Island. Digital
Island said in October it was merging with Sandpiper Networks, San
Jose, Calif., another competitor to Akamai and Inktomi. |
