ISP inducements, IPMI nudges Internet community toward multicast

While interest among Internet service providers in Internet protocol multicast technology is on the rise, the IP Multicast Initiative announced at its members' meeting in Boston last week that it plans to give ISPs a little push.

The IPMI, an industry group formed to promote the integration of IP multicast technology into the Internet, will work with "a very significant brand name entertainment business and news content vendor" to create content available only via IP multicast, said Martin Hall, co-chair of the initiative.

The goal is to create multicast-specific content compelling enough that ISPs will be at a competitive disadvantage if they do not offer it to their subscribers, Hall said.

"This will become a content game, where those ISPs that can deliver content efficiently to large numbers of users will be the ISPs that win," he said.

A comprehensive survey and research report on IP multicasting conducted by Collaborative Marketing backs up Hall's conviction. The report lists four main applications for IP multicast technology: audio and video content distribution over the Web; push-type services; collaboration and conferencing; and transferring files to multiple recipients.

Many ISPs have been slow to catch on to the technology, Hall said. However, multicast's prospects are growing brighter, particularly as ISPs, telcos and broadband operators jockey for position in the Internet services market.

"The people who build multicast into their business plans are going to win," he said.

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