Providing Revenue for Providers —continued

Using iCAP To Create New ISP Revenue Opportunities
iCAP-enabled devices and applications will allow ISPs to deliver enhanced services to their users more rapidly and inexpensively. "ISPs who have traditionally been in the business of delivering bits will now deliver value-added services and begin reaping higher margins," says Taylor. "They'll be able to move from providing simple Internet access to delivering 'apps on tap'."

According to Chow, NetCache customers are asking for help in deploying value-added services in three major areas: ad insertion, virus detection, and wireless. "Large carriers are looking for alternative revenue models like free Internet access supported by paid advertising. Targeted advertising is more valuable when localized. This can be done by deploying NetCaches near local ad servers, and allowing ad servers to insert localized ads into the web pages served up by the cache. In addition, a user profile server could quickly gather anonymous information about you, based on click history, and create a profile used by the ad server to target ads to each consumer." (Of course, given privacy concerns, ads may be targeted according to the ISP's Point of Presence (POP), not targeted to the location of the user.)

One implementation of localized ad insertion using iCAP

Taylor concurs. "Ad insertion is an issue for any web site on the Internet today. We're witnessing an evolution whereby the market is moving from a CPM model to 'cost per click'. With this, performance will become critical and targeted ads will win out over non-targeted ads. iCAP can address both the performance issue and enable targeting."

With concern growing over Internet security — or lack thereof — efficient, effective virus protection is another hot button. "With iCAP, once we know we have a clean object, we can cache it — we don't need to scan it ever again," says Chow. "And we don't need to redirect all objects, just those which might possibly carry viruses. Selective redirection reduces virus scanner CPU and complexity."

And for wireless? iCAP can help ISPs deliver content to PDAs, cell phones, and other wireless devices. According to Chow, "With iCAP, content can be adapted once per device type and caches can store multiple versions of the same page. Wireless application servers might also benefit from the same value-added transformations applied to HTML — for example, multi-national language translation."

Realizing the Promise Behind iCAP
Forum membership growth, quick delivery of an initial spec, and proof-of-concept implementations are all positive signs, but the ultimate success of iCAP hinges upon widespread deployment. Deployment also requires policies that determine when adaptation is requested, from who — a topic not yet tackled by the iCAP Forum.

Akamai's direction with iCAP will be dictated by customer base. "Most of Akamai's customers are brand leaders, and they'll let us know which services are most important to them," says Taylor. "For example, if Yahoo wants wireless, we'll head in that direction."

How quickly will we see iCAP deployed? Chow says "I know at least three application vendors implementing iCAP-based services now. I expect to see products shipping within the next 2-3 months." Taylor is similarly optimistic. "Some proof of concept applications have been developed by Forum members; Akamai and NetApp are working with members to test those apps. I anticipate seeing iCAP-enabled services on the Internet in the second half of 2000."

Related Articles
For one instance of iCAP Forum participants working together, see the March 28, 2000 internetnews.com article: Advertising.com Taps Akamai to Speed Ad Distribution.

Intel has a new chip that it claims will speed up e-commerce by speeding up S-HTTP processing.

It's interesting to compare current hype with past hype. See, for example, this article about Java, from Boardwatch in 1995.

(For initial coverage of the iCAP story, in French, see france.internet.com's December 14, 1999 story: iCAP insuffle de l'intelligence aux contenus.)

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