Privately-held Starburst Communications Corp has launched Omnicast, an IP multicasting system which delivers video, audio, software and large data files to tens of thousands of sites over satellite or terrestrial links. Omnicast allows IT staff to manage file transfers from anywhere in the network, regardless of where data is stored. Pricing starts at $39,900 for a 25-receiver configuration, and receivers are available for Unix and Windows NT/95 platforms. Omnicast uses Starburst’s MFTP (MultiCast File Transfer Protocol) technology which transmits a single stream of data from the sender’s server to a router for duplicating and simultaneous dispatch to multiple end users. MFTP also guarantees that files are delivered complete and uncorrupted. During transmission, receivers keep track of lost or bad data frames and, at the end, request that the missing data be resent. Omnicast builds on Starburst’s first MFTP multicasting system, Multicast, which was launched in 1995. Last month, US magazine Network Computing named Multicast the top push product of the year in its 1998 Well-Connected Awards competition. Management features added to Omnicast include a utility for scheduling transfer operations; a file launcher for automatically invoking procedures at remote sites; a compression program to make transmissions more bandwidth-efficient; and monitoring and diagnostic tools for observing transfers in progress. Omnicast can also send information such as close-of-business data from remote sites back to central servers for overnight job runs. These off-the-shelf management features mean that users are relieved of the burden of having to write their own scripts to control bulk information transfers. Starburst also markets an MFTP toolkit which systems integrators and software vendors can use to develop their own plug-in applications. US enterprise software publisher Platinum Technology uses this toolkit in its AutoXfer software distribution system.
By Robin Arnfield
Although Starburst holds the patents to MFTP, the technology is based on the Internet Engineering Task Force’s IP multicasting open standard. This specifies a standard way of transmitting data from one server to multiple destinations and has been adopted by most router vendors. Starburst and neworking giant Cisco Systems are working together to adapt MFTP for the next generation of internet-based information distribution applications and have jointly submitted MFTP to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) as an internet draft. Starburst’s largest customer is General Motors which uses Multicast to transmit software and data files to its 8,500 US car dealers via satellite. Previously, GM had sent out a fortnightly CD-ROM to each of its dealers. In all, using Starburst Multicast cuts up to eight weeks off GM’s information delivery cycle, says Alan Rosenberg, Starburst’s director of marketing. Where it once took GM 30 minutes to send a 1Mbyte file to a limited number of dealerships, it can now send the same file to more than 500 dealers in three minutes. The IP multicasting application that has received most publicity is streaming delivery of real-time data or video. Cisco recently acquired Precept, a US developer of IP multicasting technology for streaming video delivery. 3Com uses IP multicasting for video transmissions to employees’ PCs. Starburst, however, focuses on non-real-time transfers of very large files containing business-critical data. Its products can be used for stock quotes and news feeds, web server replication and for pushing internet content to desktops. All of our customers are using private IP-based networks, Mr Rosenberg notes. Very few ISPs are offering multicasting yet. Around 80% of Starburst’s customers use satellite networks such as Astra in Europe or Hughes Network Systems in the US for their file transfers, with the remainder using landline-based wide-area networks. The next phase will be more traditional WAN and router customers using multicasting, Mr Rosenberg says. This will be when the multicasting business really takes off. The third and most lucrative stage will be when multicasting will be available over the public internet. Starburst is already talking to a number of ISPs about multicasting computer games and software titles to their subscriber base over the internet. Concord, Massachusetts-based Starburst’s customers include Ford, Chrysler, Toys ‘R Us, The Gap, Wal-Mart, Promus Hotels and Thomson Securities Information Services. A number of companies are using Multicast for multimedia applications. Wal-Mart multicasts commercials to video servers in its stores for playback on TV sets in their electronic goods departments. The Box interactive music channel uses Multicast to transmit 8- 10Gbytes of music video files to its cable TV customers. Founded in 1992 by Ken Miller, who had earlier set up US networking firm Concord Communications, Starburst was originally a consultancy company known as Prism Networks. It changed its name to Starburst and launched its first product, Multicast, in 1995 after developing a multicasting system for one of its clients. It received $2.5m in first round finance in April 1995, and has since raised $12.9m in two further funding rounds. In July 1996, Starburst received $6.1m of second round finance from Integral Capital Partners, Canaan Partners and Greylock Management. Last year, it received $6.8m from Amerindo Investment Advisors of San Francisco and New York, Itochu Corp of Japan, Bayview (affiliated to BankAmerica Robertson, Stephens), Greylock, Canaan and Integral.
