File delivery's next big thing?
NetWare inventors' start-up to focus on moving large files across 'Net.
 
|
|||
 | |||
|
SOUTH JORDAN, UTAH - Drew Major, known as the Father of NetWare, sees the future of the Internet and there's nothing small about it.
His latest venture, XLON Technologies - as in Xtra Large Object Network - is focused on moving multimedia and other increasingly big files across the Internet more quickly and economically than is otherwise possible. The new service provider will use a combination of off-the-shelf caching products and its own technology to deliver files that are 1M byte or larger via multiple sources. These sources include the content's origin server, XLON-owned proxies, caches on partner ISP networks and even client programs on desktop computers.
"I believe the next market opportunity is for a specialized content delivery network which focuses on the delivery of large objects, not just web pages. I founded XLon to provide the management layer that I believe our networks need to take the next step forward," said Major, in a prepared statement regarding XLON, for which he provided the initial undisclosed funding and serves as chairman.
Major has clearly become a mover and shaker in the caching community. However, his track record to date is mixed, having co-founded now-defunct caching services company Edgix in 1999 and currently serving as CTO for Volera, a Novell spinoff that has had its ups and downs alongside other players in that market.
XLON CTO Greg Smith says the new company will attempt to address shortcomings of existing network architectures.
"As we look at the horizon and we see what's coming, we see things like ever-increasing software sizes that are being downloaded . . . We see movies and television programs coming online," Smith says.
The market for content-delivery services is enticing and daunting. A recent report by market research firm IDC showed the market will spike in the next few years from $1.6 billion in 2001 to $8 billion in 2005. But finding a business model that works is tricky. Several companies, such as Edgix and Adero, attacking the market have closed their doors recently. Even some of the bigger players, including Akamai Technologies, have struggled, laying off staff and posting millions of dollars in losses.
Part of the reason for the tough playing field, analysts say, is the capital-intensive nature of the business. Akamai spent millions of dollars deploying more than 13,000 edge servers in hundreds of networks around the globe.
XLON executives are well aware of the situation, having seen Edgix - a company where some of them worked - burn through $65 million in funding before closing in April. But these officials say XLON will succeed because instead of building out a network, it mainly plans to exploit network resources that are in place.
That may give it an edge over other content-delivery service providers because it will be able to keep costs low, says Peter Christy, research director at Jupiter Media Metrix. XLON won't reveal pricing, but says customers using its service will pay five to 15 times less for Web content delivery bandwidth.
Major, along with fellow NetWare developer Dale Neibaur and friend Timothy Johansson, founded XLON about 14 months ago, but it has yet to officially launch. A pilot customer is scheduled in about two weeks to begin using the service to deliver software packages, Smith says
Other content-delivery newcomers, such as Evernet (www. nwfusion.com, DocFinder: 7049) and Kontiki (www.nwfusion. com, DocFinder: 7050), have launched similar services. But XLON executives say those firms are focused more on a peer-to-peer design. For XLON, peer-to-peer is just a small part of the approach, Smith says.
"We're looking at exactly how you get something really massive across the network, and the conclusion was you have to be able to source it from many different levels," he says.
Dale Olds, who created Novell Directory Services, is the chief architect of XLON's software, which is built on a directory model similar to NDS. NDS is a repository that keeps track of network resources.
"What we really come down to is a distributed computing platform that is a directory service," Smith says. "Instead of being a personal information directory service, it's a network and content-directory service."
PROFILE:
XLON TECHNOLOGIES
|
Customers could use XLON's service by installing what the start-up calls an "Integrator" next to their primary content server. The Integrator, a Volera proxy cache or a homegrown XLON cache, intercepts requests made to a content provider's Web site and forwards them to XLON's network. No code changes need to be made to the content provider's Web site, and the provider retains control of its content.
XLON's Content Director, software that would reside on servers in data centers hosted by Verio, could use its directory technology to determine how to best get the requested content to the requesting party.
"We're not looking to build out a 13,000-server network the way Akamai has," Smith says. "We're looking to go to Tier 2 ISPs and . . . help them leverage their existing infrastructure."
Related Links
Contact Senior Editor Deni Connor
Other recent articles by Connor
Contact Senior Writer Jennifer Mears
Other recent articles by Mears
XLON: www.XLONtech.com
