Alliance Pushes Internet Access Standard

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December 14, 1999 (12:00 AM EST)

By Margie Semilof,

A handful of Internet companies are joining forces tocreate a standard that connects multiple Web functions on 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.