As Web sites become more complex and the number of people contributing content to them mushrooms, software developers are endeavoring to help companies better manage their content.
Akamba , Akamai Technologies , LizardTech , WorldWeb.net and Eprise will each be at the Fall Internet World show next week in New York rolling out new products and services that ease content management and speed delivery.
Akamba, founded by Hotmail co-founder Jack Smith, has developed a special-purpose computer that reduces the load on Web servers and speeds response times and delivery. When plugged into Web servers, the new Velobahn appliance increases server capacity by up to four times and server response time by up to 20 times, said Akamba officials in Los Gatos. It does this by forwarding only completed requests to the CPU.
In so doing, Velobahn, which will be available next week priced starting at US$3,000, reduces the need for e-businesses to buy additional servers, according to beta tester Treb Ryan, vice president of operations at SiteSmith.
Akamai's EdgeSuite
Also coming out with a new content delivery solution is Akamai. The Cambridge, company will show off its new EdgeSuite service, for smoothing delivery of content on more complex Web sites.
The service, slated for availability December 1, supports delivery of all of a Web site's traffic, including HTML, embedded objects and dynamic content. The service also includes dynamic content assembly based on a user's connection speed and location and default HTML when a site is down, and it uses Akamai's existing routing technology to deliver content faster. EdgeSuite eliminates the need to pre-tag content, which is the case with other Akamai services.
EdgeSuite helped beta customer Aptimus , an online direct-marketing company, reduce its average page display time from 4.2 seconds to 2.2 seconds, which increased its visit ratio by 42 percent and also increased orders. "That's direct dollars in your pocket," said Mark Noblitt, Aptimus' vice president of information technology, in Seattle. Akamai also has reduced his IT costs by reducing the amount of infrastructure needed. The service "pays for itself many times over," Noblitt said.
Akamai also will announce a partnership with Equilibrium Technologies of Sausalito. Customers of Equilibrium's rich media publishing platform will be able to deliver images from the edge of the network through Akamai. Equilibrium's platform allows Web sites to be easily redesigned or updated with rich media images.
Performance, performance, performance
Also specialising in the speedy delivery of images is Seattle-based LizardTech, which will launch at the show Content Server 3.0, allowing Web sites to push out the right number of pixels for various clients. The XML-based software, which is priced between US$4,500 and US$25,000, also enables servers to handle up to 10 times as many images.
"Everybody wants their stuff to go fast," said Neal Goldman, an analyst with the Yankee Group in Boston. "[It's] a big problem, particularly as Web sites get more complex, get bigger and have more data on a page." The Internet "is all about performance and customizing the experience for users," said John "Grizz" Deal, the company's president and CEO.
Also at Internet World, WorldWeb.net of Alexandria, Va., is unveiling a new version of its XML-based content management solution, Expressroom I/O, with added workflow technology and device support.
New features include a workflow editor and graphical editing environment and interface. The template-based content management solution supports versioning and roll-back technology. A reporting feature allows for email notification of progress or status reports, which can be sent to a cell phone or pager. The product will be available in the fourth quarter.
"Philosophically, when we were thinking about this product, we wanted to enable the people who exist in an organisation to manage a Web site," said Larry Henry, the company's co-founder and chief technology officer. "You don't have to turn it all over to the programmers to fix one bottleneck in the system."
For its part, Eprise is shifting its focus from just alleviating the Webmaster's bottleneck to a more strategic type of content management, said Jon Radoff, Eprise's founder and chief technology officer, in Framingham.
Participant Server 3.0 includes an enhanced user interface to hide the complexity of content management and promote reuse of shared components. Other new features include improved memory management, automated caching and an embedded visual editor.
The software will be available next month. A typical engagement starts at US$150,000.
