Partners to address content delivery

Inktomi, Adero and AOL last week announced Content Bridge, an alliance of technology and network service providers aimed at improving the speed and reliability of content delivery over the Internet.

Content Bridge members will provide a unified platform for content delivery across all participating networks to raise the end-to-end performance of the Internet for content providers and end users, says Inktomi CEO David Peterschmidt.

"This transforms the Internet from a bit machine to a seamless content delivery platform," he says.

Inktomi will provide the core network software technology for Content Bridge, which is scheduled for launch later this year. Network services provider Adero will take the role of ensuring that content is updated across all member networks and provide centralized billing and settlement services for cross-network transactions.

The software is already undergoing testing at AOL, which shortly will become the first ISP to deploy it, Peterschmidt says.

Other initial participants in the alliance are Digital Island, Exodus Communications, Genuity, Mirror Image Internet, Madge.web and NetRail.

Although the alliance will level the playing field for basic content delivery services among the participating network operators, it will not take away the competitive advantages each network provider offers in terms of more advanced, value-added services, says Ruann Ernst, Digital Island CEO.

Uimonen is an IDG News Service correspondent.