| The Internet was
initially a show horse strutting its
stuff for an audience of captivated
admirers. The fleet-footed creature was
wonderful to watch but, once the show was
over, it was of little use in the
workaday world. Now the Internet and its
cousin--the corporate intranet--are much
more akin to heavily-muscled workhorses.
Although still joys to view in action,
the world’s new beasts of burden are
expected to perform real tasks in the
real world, not just pretty circus
stunts. One of the major factors in
transforming the Internet and intranets
into valuable work tools has been push
technology. Sudha Jamthe, founding
director of Boston’s Web-Net, an
outgrowth of the pioneering Boston
Computer Society, defines push technology
as "any technology that enables
information to come to you rather than
having to go out onto the Web and pull it
in."
A Push Primer
Push technology has become such a buzz
word—so obscured by the swirl of
hype around it—that it is sometimes
difficult to get a clear view its
capabilities, Jamthe says. In an effort
to provide clarity, she offers the
following Push Primer.
There are two basic forms of push
technology:
- Web broadcasting. This
form of push sends information
out to a large number of users,
in the same way any other form of
media--radio or TV for
example--sends the same message
out to several users at the same
time. PointCast, Inc. of
Cupertino, Calif. is the company
most intimately associated with
this form of push. The company
pioneered the concept nearly two
years ago and is now moving
forcefully into the corporate
realm with its PointCast Network,
now in version 2.0. The
Network’s I-Server caches
frequently-visited pages on a
local server, thus avoiding the
server overload that can result
when thousands of employees are
downloading content. The system
also offers tools for creating
your own corporate broadcasts.
- Narrow casting. As its
name implies, narrow casting
offers a more focused approach to
push. This method, which is
proving a boon to the cause of
Web marketing, allows users to
choose custom-designed packages
of information they would like to
receive. Merchants all over the
Web are using the technology to
great benefit by inviting
customers to sign up for
product/service information, then
following up with streams of
information suited to users’
individual needs. "The most
interesting thing here is that
this costs almost nothing,"
said Jamthe. "And another
benefit is that you don’t
have that ‘bulk mail’
feel to the communication. You
can program these tools to give
you personalized
communications."
Netscape--with its breakthrough
Netscape Communicator-- is one of
the big players in this market,
with new versions of
Microsoft’s Internet
Explorer also offering built-in
narrow casting capability.
Push technology deposits information
in one of three locales; the screen
saver, browser or "good old e-mail
inbox," explains Jamthe. In fact
HTML-enabled mail has opened huge
doorways for Web marketers, who can now
provide prospective customers with active
links to product information.
Push In the
Corporate Realm
Jamthe points out that push can be an
extremely valuable addition to an
intranet. With a product like PointCast
on each employee’s browser,
corporate information can be delivered
virtually cost-free, making the printed
corporate newsletter or memo an
anachronism.
When comparing programs for your
intranet, be sure to look for a product
that provides:
- Security
- Ability to download onto a local
server to avoid network overload.
- Flexibility.
The program should enable you to
distribute information in a number of
different ways, mix Web-based content
with information from local sources, and
allow you to both broadcast and narrow
cast information based on individual
employees’ needs.
In the future, says Jamthe,
information delivery systems, are certain
to become hybrids of push and pull
technology.
"There is a drive from the huge
number of Web marketers to push
information out there," Jamthe says.
"But, from a user’s
perspective, there’s a great benefit
to being able to make the decisions that
come with pulling in your own
information, so you won’t hate the
information that comes to your
system.’’
Sue Mellen writes
from Tyngsboro, Mass.
Publication
date: October 3, 1997
Sudha Jamthe is a regular speaker at
DCI’s Internet
Expo. Find out more about the role of
push in your business at DCI’s
Sales Force Automation Conference.
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