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07:00 AM ET 08/26/97
Marimba and Netscape Propose HTTP Distribution
and Replication Protocol for the Web
Novell, Sun Microsystems, @Home Network Also Team Up on the Submission to
Optimize Automated Software, Data and Web Content Distribution
Over the Internet
NEW YORK, Aug. 26 /PRNewswire/ -- Marimba, Inc.(TM), Netscape(R)
Communications Corporation (Nasdaq: NSCP), Novell Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL), Sun
Microsystems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUNW) and @Home Network today jointly proposed to
the Worldwide Web Consortium (W3C) a new industry protocol called the
Distribution and Replication Protocol (DRP) that will improve and optimize the
performance of the Internet. An enhancement to today's Internet standard
HTTP, DRP will enable businesses to decrease the cost of ownership related to
managing PCs and the information on them by providing a standardized,
efficient Internet infrastructure for software, data and Web content
distribution.
The new protocol solves a major problem confronting the Internet by
eliminating potential congestion and bottlenecks as companies expand their use
of the Internet as a business tool and as they increasingly rely upon it to
deploy information and application services.
Leading companies immediately endorsing the protocol include Fujitsu,
PeopleSoft, Sybase, Symantec and Toshiba.
Companies implementing the proposed specification will be able to
efficiently distribute large amounts of any type of software, data and Web
content to large groups of clients. The DRP enhancement to HTTP enables
efficient distribution by virtue of an advanced differential update process
that automatically revises only the files that have changed since the last
update.
This differential update process uses network bandwidth efficiently,
transporting only actual changes back to the client for installation, thus
conserving Internet bandwidth and resources. The update and installation
processes are completely transparent to the end user.
"The submission of DRP to the W3C is the culmination of 18 months of
development and builds on Marimba's established technology," said Arthur van
Hoff, chief technology officer of Marimba, Inc. "The collaboration and
endorsement of industry leaders of DRP goes a long way toward solving some of
the most pressing problems facing the Internet and will help make `push
technology' a more powerful, more reliable and more valuable tool for
business."
"HTTP is the lifeblood of the Web, defining how clients and servers
communicate with each other and with our customers' applications," said Rick
Schell, senior vice president of the client and platform product division at
Netscape. "DRP enhances HTTP by allowing dramatic efficiency improvements in
push and software distribution. When DRP is approved by W3C, Netscape plans
to implement this efficient new protocol in future versions of Netscape
Communicator and Netscape SuiteSpot server software."
"Clearly, this initiative is a high priority for Novell," said Dr. Eric
Schmidt, chairman and chief executive officer of Novell. "Novell supports the
standardization of proven technologies in conjunction with industry partners.
Our participation with Marimba in development of the DRP proposal through the
W3C emphasizes our commitment to driving the future of intranets and the
Internet. Providing customers with heterogeneous network solutions that allow
them to choose the right technologies to meet their business objectives is an
extremely high priority for Novell and the entire networking industry."
"Sun is pleased to join Marimba and these industry leaders in submitting
DRP to the W3C," said James G. Mitchell, vice president, technology and
architecture, Sun Microsystems, Inc.'s JavaSoft division. "DRP meets an
important need in this rapidly changing environment."
"@Home Network is very happy to join Marimba and the other industry
leaders in this arena in submitting DRP to the W3C," said Milo Medin, vice
president for networks for @Home Network. "We view this protocol as a major
advance in enabling a much more robust and reliable replication and
distribution capability in the Internet, which we view as critical in truly
making the Internet a great content platform."
"Marimba is delighted to be one of the lead sponsors of the DRP proposal,"
said Kim Polese, president and chief executive officer of Marimba, Inc. "As
part of Marimba's ongoing commitment to promote Web standards, this protocol
will advance the fundamental infrastructure of the Internet well beyond where
it is today. Moreover, DRP will contribute to making the Internet a truly
viable vehicle for commerce."
DRP Makes Automatic Information Delivery More Efficient
Today, organizations worldwide are looking for more efficient, less costly
means to deploy, manage and update an ever-increasing volume of software, data
and Web content to employees, business partners and consumers. By improving
the efficiency and performance of the Web, DRP enables companies to use the
Web more effectively and helps improve the experience of working on it for
users.
DRP improves the performance of the Web by enabling more efficient
channels, software distribution and Web browsing. DRP speeds downloading of
channels and reduces server load, eliminating the "Web crawling" and file-by-
file downloads that slow many subscription-based channels. By supporting
differential updates and versioning, DRP makes software distribution more
efficient and eliminates the current practice of downloading an entire file
when only a small portion of it requires updating. DRP enables faster and
more enjoyable Web browsing, especially over modem connections, by speeding
the delivery of multiple Web page elements.
Based on a Marimba technology originally developed and deployed as part of
Castanet(TM), DRP simplifies file versioning and provides powerful replication
for scalability. DRP uses advanced checksums technology, which creates a
"finger-print" of information, to assure delivery of requested mission
critical applications and data. The use of checksums ensures that only data
or files that have changed are updated, conserving network bandwidth when
updating content and applications.
DRP Complements Other Announced Standards
DRP is backward compatible with HTTP/1.0 and HTTP/1.1 and leverages much
of the work done by the HTTP standards working groups. DRP is also
synergistic with many recently proposed standards and complements multicast
technology, allowing it to be used today anywhere HTTP is available.
About Marimba
Founded in 1996 and headquartered in Palo Alto, Calif., Marimba, Inc. is a
privately held software company whose mission is to reduce the complexity and
cost of doing business by enabling companies to manage, distribute and update
network applications and services across devices, platforms and networks -
automatically, efficiently and securely. Marimba's Castanet technology
enables the distribution, management and updating of network applications
within enterprises and across the Internet.
About Netscape
Netscape Communications Corporation is a leading provider of open software
for linking people and information over enterprise networks and the Internet.
The company offers a full line of clients, servers, development tools and
commercial applications to create a complete platform for next-generation,
live online applications. Traded on NASDAQ under the symbol "NSCP," Netscape
Communications Corporation is based in Mountain View, Calif.
Marimba and Castanet are trademarks of Marimba, Inc. All other trademarks
are the property of their respective owners.
PLEASE NOTE NUMBER CHANGE: EDITORS WHO WOULD LIKE TO HEAR PRESS CONFERENCE
PLAYBACK PLEASE CALL 800-475-6701, ACCESS CODE 352244
Note to editors: For information about the DRP submission to W3C, please
visit http://www.marimba.com/standards/drp.html. If you are interested in
viewing additional information on Marimba or Netscape, please visit the
Marimba home page at http://www.marimba.com or Netscape home page at
http://www.netscape.com.
SOURCE Marimba, Inc.
CONTACT: press, Marimba: Beth Johnson of Marimba, 650-463-0177,
beth@marimba.com or Bob Schettino of Thomas Associates, 650-596-2700,
bobtino@thomaspr.com; Netscape: Chris Hoover of Netscape Communications Corp.,
650-937-2156, choover@netscape.com; Novell: Shannon Harmon of Novell,
801-228-5126, smharmon@novell.com; @Home Network: Linda Lucerno of @Home,
650-569-5193; Sun Microsystems: Penelope Bruce of Sun Microsystems Inc.,
650/960-1300, penelope.bruce@sun.com/
(NSCP NOVL SUNW)
CO: Marimba, Inc.; Netscape Communications; Novell Inc.; Sun
Microsystems, Inc.; @Home Network
ST: New York
IN: MLM CPR
SU: PDT
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