Satellite 'Net access system flush with cache

Laurel, Md.

While many companies have unveiled Web caching products in recent months, SkyCache, Inc. has taken a different approach - combining satellite access with caching intelligence. SkyCache, founded in August 1997, uses a satellite link via a 1.2-meter dish to provide Web page delivery for a large network and to supplant the tangle of high-capacity leased lines that connect an enterprise to the Internet. A satellite connection can deliver up to 4M bit/sec - compared with a T-1 line, which can deliver only 1.544M bit/sec. The system manages data quite innovatively, company officials claimed. SkyCache analyzes the site requests made by its customers, then employs statistical analysis to determine the most popular pages. These pages make up a "master" that is beamed by satellite to each site's local cache server.

Analysts were intrigued. "The concept of using broadcast to bypass the traditional leased line is a clever idea," said Steve Telleen, a director at Santa Clara, Calif.-based Giga Information Group, Inc. "If enough [Internet service providers] do this, it could free up the major backbones.' However, Telleen argued that there is a potential downside. The advent of one-on-one marketing, such as electronic commerce sites that analyze your browsing and buying habits to offer personalized pages, conflicts with the SkyCache formula. Dynamic HTML and the forthcoming XML also may stifle this type of system.

"Down the line, as there are more dynamic, custom-built pages, the less this caching solution will have an effect beyond the first hit," Telleen said.

The company is initially targeting large and midsize ISPs, followed by Fortune 1000 companies. Pricing for the turnkey system is $2,500 per month, which includes the satellite dish, receiver and installation, a 16- to 20G-byte cache server and a cache adapter. A lower priced plan is available to connect the system to your existing cache technology: The plan includes the satellite dish, receiver, installation and a cache adapter. SkyCache expects to debut the product next week at ISPCON Spring 98 in Baltimore and have it available in April.

SkyCache: (301) 598-0500