Several Internet software companies are pushing a standard to help automate the process of Web caching, a technique intended to speed delivery of Web pages.
Network cache vendor Inktomi said Wednesday that several Internet software companies have joined with it to define and support the new Web Proxy Autodiscovery Protocol, or WPAD.
Microsoft (MSFT), RealNetworks (RNWK), and Sun Microsystems (SUNW) are all backing the idea.
Internet caching involves storing copies of Web pages or other content on servers that are geographically closer to end users. From a consumer perspective, cached content may load faster, but because users are loading a copy of a site and not the original, there is the risk that the material is not as fresh as it could be.
Network service providers like the idea of caching because it decreases the amount of duplicate traffic on their networks. The new standard would make it easier for Web browsing software to find and use a cache without involving the end user, Inktomi said.
For example, a traveling executive could dial up her Internet service provider in different cities, and the browser would locate and draw from the nearest cache, Inktomi said.
The protocol has already been integrated into the beta version of Microsoft's Internet Explorer 5, and RealNetworks plans to support the spec in future versions of its RealSystem G2 streaming media software. Like Web pages, audio and video streams can also be stored nearby on a local cache.
Last month, Inktomi (INKT) submitted a draft for consideration by the Internet Engineering Task Force, one of the Net's standards bodies.
Not everyone believes caching offers as much of a performance boost as Inktomi and other caching vendors promise. The only real way for networks to improve performance is to add bandwidth, they say, and a cache may not always deliver the latest content.
But vendors say caching techniques have been constantly improved to ensure that content stays as fresh as it is at the source.
Inktomi supplies technology for the HotBot search engine that is owned by Wired News' parent company, Wired Digital.
