As push technology companies try to shove a plethora
of products down the networks of corporate America, it's become
more and more difficult to follow exactly what all these push products
do and which are most appropriate for business applications. IDM's new sampler of push offerings is one compass
to steer by.
Another arrives this week from Intranet Partners
(IP), a leading intranet consulting and professional services
company, which has categorized the types of push products as part of
its technology evaluation program.
"A few months ago I could count the number of push technology
products on one hand. Now there are more than 40," said Bart
Meltzer, chief technologist at IP. "It's important for IT
managers to stay on top of these products -- what they provide and how
they affect network bandwidth."
IP has identified 10 major categories for push technologies.
Following are the categories, some examples of products within them,
and a short description:
Consolidators -- Microsoft Active Desktop and Netscape
Constellation. Next-generation Web browsers will distribute software,
Web pages, news, and mail. These products will provide ways to anchor
broadcast channel windows to the desktop and enable subscriptions to
Web content and media-rich channel broadcasting.
Broadcasters -- Pointcast, Ifusion Arrive. Provide
multimedia content through broadcast channels utilizing customized
interfaces. Typically, headline information links to supplementary
information on the content provider's Web site.
Intranet Delivery -- First Floor Smart Delivery,
Diffusion Intra Express, and Verity Intelliserve. Provide a variety of
ways to monitor sites for content updates and then deliver
notifications and/or full content files. Most require both server and
client-side applications.
Program Delivery -- Marimba and Backweb -- Use broadcast
channels for electronic delivery and updating of software. Can be used
to create application interfaces to company databases. The same
channels can be used for multimedia broadcasts, creating a dual-use for
these products.
Intranet Broadcast -- Incisa Wayfarer, Pointcast
Iserver, NewsEDGE/Web. Similar to broadcast channels but designed to
let corporations create their own content channels and/or subscribe to
industry specific news sources.
Notifiers -- Intermind, Digital Bindery, Posta. Similar to
intranet delivery products with fewer notification and
content delivery options. Typically, these products only monitor for
content changes and provide limited content delivery options.
Offline browsers -- Flashsite, Freeloader. Specialized
products that download entire Web sites for offline viewing. These
products can be configured to deliver content at specified intervals
and to monitor
downloaded sites for updates.
HTML Email -- Netscape InBox Direct, Mercury Mail. Delivers
Web pages and publications as HTML through email. Gives email the same
graphics, sound, animation, hypertext, and Java
applets as Web page content.
Site Pickers -- The Angle, Affinicast, Firefly. Some site
pickers
deliver custom content based on user-designated interests. These
function less like custom search agents and more like subscribing to a
subject-based magazine.
Web Subscribers -- Headliner, Tiera Highlights, Downtown.
Web
subscribers deliver Web content to a user's computer that can be viewed
though a proprietary application offline. Subscribers can monitor Web
sites for content updates.
"Of all the companies and products competing in the push
market, only one or two leaders and a handful of contenders will
emerge," said Meltzer. "Therefore, it's imperative for IT
managers to understand the strategy for push technologies and architect
a framework for push technology that will work over time as the
component products change."
About IP
Intranet Partners, Inc. is a leading full-service
consulting and professional services provider of Internet,
extranet, and intranet strategies and solutions for corporations.
Headquartered in Santa Clara, Intranet Partners architects, integrates,
implements, and develops strategies for customized Internet sites,
extranets, and intranets -- economically, rapidly, and securely.
Intranet Partners is a product-independent consulting team composed of
Internet pioneers who have designed and implemented numerous successful
intranets. Detailed information regarding Intranet Partners is
available at www.ip.com.
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