SkyCache Inc. of Laurel, MD is working with 15 Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to resolve Web logjams by caching popular Web pages and updating local ISPs via satellite links. The company is identifying frequently requested pages, downloading them to a master cache of many sites, and beaming them to local ISP servers via satellite. Participating ISPs get a caching server, satellite dish, and access to the bandwidth that the dish provides.
The goal is faster retrieval time. That appears to be realized. A local ISP we contacted said that the downloading of 1040 forms from the IRS site was very slow in early April, but access from the cache was extremely fast.
SkyCache is charging the participating ISPs $2,500 per month for basic service. The hope is to double the number of participants by the end of the third quarter of 1998, and to double it again by the end of the year.
A number of other companies are seeking to address the problem of Web logjams, a problem expected to worsen as the number of U.S. businesses and households on the Internet grows from 22.5 million in 1997 to a projected 38 million by 2000.