Web And Internet Technology Progress Defies Persistent Dot-Com Blues - File-Pool Inc's ezAttach file sharing software - Product Announcement

Computer Technology Review, Dec, 2000 by Joshua Piven

Content delivery acceleration company Akamai has expanded its technology offerings with a new product called EdgeSuite. An addition to the company's current static content caching products, EdgeSuite enables distributed application functionality at the edge of the Internet. The product dynamically constructs pages from component pieces that can be specifically targeted at the viewer and grabbed from different sources; EdgeSuite offloads the CPU-intensive page assembly process from the origin server. The new service must be used in conjunction with Akamai's existing caching services. The company also introduced a portalized, personalized tool called I.AM.AKAMAI, a Java-based tool which customers can use to get industry, or position, specific news and information. More information is available at www.akamai.com.

This File Will Self-Destruct In Five, Four...

A new company called Authentica has a novel approach to data security: dynamically revoke access to content, even after it's been delivered. The company's three information protection systems--Mail Vault, Page Vault, and WebVault--enable a content provider to prevent end users from performing specific actions on documents. While some of Authentica's solutions (encrypted email, messages that expire) are not new, the company uses a central policy server in association with a plug-in to offer granulated services such as the prevention of Web page printing; the prevention of data copying and forwarding of Web pages and emails; and the ability to retrieve (unsend) documents that have already been delivered. Authentica's products integrate with Word, Outlook, and Eudora. More information is available at www.authentica.com.

Two popular e-commerce software vendors have joined forces and at Internet World released the open-source Akopia Interchange, a Unix/Linux based store, catalog, and transaction management application. Interchange is the result of the code-base merger of Akopia Tallyman and MiniVend, two popular e-commerce software programs. Interchange is also now shipping with Red Hat Linux 7 Deluxe Edition. More information, as well as source code, is available at www.akopia.com.

In an early implementation (some might say test-case) of its .NET soft are-for-hire strategy, Micro oft Corp. announced that the company will allow its core applications to be rented on a per-session basis at the forthcoming easyEverything Web cafe in New York City. At press time, the European chain of Internet cafes was expected to open an enormous, 800-PC facility in Times Square at the end of November. While sipping coffee and munching bagels, users will be able to "rent" applications such as Word, Excel, and Encarta for apprqximately $2 per session (above access fees).

easyEverything says the rental strategy will let users "try" before they buy Microsoft software, though finding anyone that hasn't already tried Microsoft Office might be a difficult job. Microsoft's .NET plan calls for Redmond to move its software to a service-based model, where users pay monthly or usage-based access fees rather than purchasing unlimited use licenses as is common today. Industry observers will be closely monitoring the effort to see if consumers are prepared to pony up their cash to write a letter or use a spreadsheet.