BoostWorks buys Streamcore

BoostWorks is acquiring a French traffic-shaping company with the aim of adding its technology to BoostWorks’ Internet compression gear.

BoostWorks wouldn’t say what it paid for Streamcore, which makes an appliance called StreamGroomer that prioritizes applications to make sure high-priority traffic gets first access to the network.

Initially, BoostWorks plans to sell StreamGroomer as a separate appliance that can work in conjunction with BoostWork’s compression appliance called BoostEdge. Over the next year the company plans to build a single management platform for the two devices, merge their software and put it on a single appliance called BoostEdge.

The company competes with FineGround Networks, Fireclick and Redline, among others.

BoostEdge can be deployed between Web servers and the Internet to speed up traffic in several ways. First, it determines what kind of browser is initiating the session so it can customize responses for that browser to minimize the amount of traffic that must be sent. It also uses standard compression that is part of browsers to reduce traffic volume.

BoostEdge also has a proprietary image library that can reduce images from 40% to 60% with little or no loss of resolution. This is done by such techniques as using fewer colors in its color map. The device can also be configured to dish different quality of images to different user groups, making it possible to reduce traffic even more for those groups requiring less resolution.

The device also can compress e-mails that use POP3, IMAP and SMTP protocols as well as FTP traffic, but to do so, the remote machines require a software client. The company says soon it will release a client for further compressing HTML traffic.

BoostWorks claims that a BoostEdge and a StreamGroomer cabeld together can reduce download times 60% to 70% vs. 40% to 60% improvement using BoostEdge alone. With the two technologies integrated on one piece of hardware, that reduction could increase, the company says.

Current customers of both companies will get notices of upgrade deals to move to the new hardware and software platforms as they become available.

BoostWorks is also announcing $9 million in third-round financing, bringing in SPEF Ventures and MC Capital Europe in addition to earlier investors 3i, Bank of America Securities, BNP–Europe Telecom and Media Fund, Cross Atlantic Ventures, Innovacom, Intel, Mitsubushi VC, and Soffinova Partners.