Intelligent Enterprise

Content Delivery Is King

Cisco enters the content delivery business with an "intelligent" networking strategy

The premise behind content delivery networks (CDNs) - that e-businesses need to manage the spontaneous (and often unpredictable) convergence of a potentially overwhelming number of users - has been consistently reinforced by well-publicized availability disasters.

As one solution to the challenge, companies such as Inktomi Corp., Sandpiper Networks (now merged with Digital Island Inc.), and Akamai Technologies Inc. have emerged to cache content on dispersed servers at major Internet access points, redirecting user traffic to ensure faster loading times.

But now the heavy hitters - no doubt fueled by the Yankee Group prediction that the content delivery service provider market will grow to $875 million by 2003 - have taken notice, and partnerships are speedily forming.

Cisco Systems Inc., a previous investor in Akamai, recently announced its own CDN solution comprising a delivery framework and unified products across several disparate product lines aimed at ISPs, content deliverers, Web and e-commerce companies, and ASPs. This solution is designed to help companies set up e-commerce, distance learning, and streaming media networks relatively easily and inexpensively.

Concurrently, Cisco also announced the formation of the Content Alliance, which includes members such as Cable & Wireless, Digital Island, Global Center, Mirror Image Internet, NaviSite, Network Appliance, PSINet, and ServInt, aimed at developing open standards and protocols such as content peering for CDN interoperability.

Cisco's braintrust believes that content peering is a natural evolution of CDNs. ISPs already peer their networks in order to share bandwidth and improve end-to-end performance.

Some analysts believe that this effort, similar to Inktomi's "Content Bridge" alliance, is an effort to beat the proprietary technology that current market leader Akamai delivers.

Although CDN companies such as Akamai have been working hard to build respected brands, Cisco's reputation as the infrastructure provider for the Internet carries a huge amount of respect. Consequently, its ability to attract large customers and partners could be a formidable obstacle for these companies. But whether Cisco will be able to muscle aside well-entrenched competition remains to be seen.

Privacy Watch

• A new survey released at the Global Privacy Summit by Privacy Council Inc. suggests that privacy concerns are having a dampening effect on e-commerce. Sixty-one percent of 800 surveyed people said they don't shop online because of privacy and security concerns.
• A privacy study of U.S. government Web sites by the General Accounting Office found that only 3 percent of 65 surveyed sites comply with all four of the Federal Trade Commission's fair information practice guidelines.
• The Electronic Privacy Information Center, a leading online privacy advocate, has severed its business relationship with Amazon.com because of that company's recent announcement that it can no longer guarantee that customer information will stay out of the hands of third parties.