Custom content for cable modems, DSL: Arepa aims to be Yahoo! of broadband

Everybody's talking about broadband, but nobody's making full use of it.

Arepa Inc. may have found a way to put all that bandwidth to use. The company has patented technology that permits PC users to download popular CD-ROM titles-entertainment, educational and enterprise-over a high-speed cable Internet connection. The software never reaches the users' hard drives but instead is cached through the broadband network for fast click-and-run access on demand.

"Basically, we make the software feel as if the network is a CD-ROM drive," said Ric Fulop, founder and president of Arepa. "In reality, it's distributed among multiple tiers on the network-the regional data center, the headend-and we have multilayered caching and real-time proxying going on in the background. But the software still runs as if the network is the storage device."

It's the first start-up that provides content for cable modem and digital subscriber line networks, he said.

The Arepa system encodes software titles in a version identical to that available in retail outlets. Arepa's proprietary technology applies a unique random access file transfer protocol that allows downloads from any location on the broadband network without installing the title to a PC's hard drive.

After licensing a title, Arepa encodes it into a form the company calls a "briquet," which encrypts the title against piracy and compresses it to consume much less bandwidth than the CD version. The encrypted software needs a key to run, so Arepa built a conditional access system that sits on the network and authenticates application use. Clients download the Arepa Launcher from the company's Web site or receive it when they sign on with their service provider.

The bursty nature of gaming software makes it particularly well-suited for broadband download. "You can play for 20 minutes on the same level of Quake, for example, and consume less bandwidth than you would surfing the Net," Fulop said. "That level is all on [RAM] in a 3-D model, and the textures are already downloaded-you're just doing real-time rendering."

At the request of Internet service providers, Arepa also is developing essential software packages that will appeal to small and medium-sized businesses such as a small travel agency that would rather rent Adobe PhotoShop twice a year for a few days than spend $600 to own it.

"We're not wedded to one certain type of consumer," Fulop said. "We're looking at changing the way all people use software."

Arepa has been in field trials with some of the biggest names in cable access-@Home, MediaOne, RoadRunner, Bell Canada and Singapore One-as well as an exclusive contract with interactive television service Intertainer that should bring Arepa to interactive subscribers for U S West, Ameritech, Bell Atlantic and RCN Corp.

@Home recently completed technical trials, in which the service was piped into various locations around @Home's headquarters. "We let our people bang away on it for two-and-a-half months. Basically, we found it works," said Raj Kapoor, @Home's director of applications and e-commerce.

"It's a very different service, one that the consumer just can't get on narrowband," he said.

Kapoor said @Home subscribers may wind up with a choice of two transaction models: a one-time rental comparable with the cost of a game rental at a video store or a monthly subscription of $5 to $10.

Arepa also plans to look at providing other big bandwidth downloads such as video or MP3 music. "We plan to be the leading place where people go for multimedia," Fulop said. "We want to be the Yahoo! of broadband."

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