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Originally published on 03/11/2002
AppStream makes technology that allows applications to stream to a desktop, the way audio and video do -- sort of. This is the pitch I was getting from CEO Uri Raz. But Uri took things too far, comparing his concept to film, in which a bunch of still pictures are displayed so fast it appears they're moving. Uri told me that AppStream is the same, but with software.
Fast Facts:
AppStream
www.appstream.com |
| CEO |
Uri Raz.
Last job: CEO, Golden Screens. |
| HQ |
Palo Alto, CA |
| Employees |
70 |
| Market |
Application deployment |
| Funding |
$45m in two rounds. Largest investor: JK&B |
| Profitable |
No; Projected by Q4 2002 |
| Burn Rate |
$750,000/month. |
That's cute, but it makes no sense. So I derailed Uri's pitch and tried to learn a little more. And, in fact, AppStream is pretty interesting.
AppStream's server software chops up an application into small, quickly downloadable chunks, which client PCs then load in (and cache) as needed. Unlike other remote computing solutions, the "streamed" software behaves exactly as a resident application would, and can use local processing power, network connections, printers, and storage devices.
Uri showed a demo of Excel running over AppStream. It was very snappy. But interest in streaming Microsoft apps has been "tepid," Uri says. Instead, the sales pitch is this: AppStream allows applications written in-house to be distributed quickly and almost automatically, and managed centrally (upgrades are handled on the servers).
What about Java, and the move to Web-based applications and Web services? Uri points out that currently more business programmers know how to program for Windows than for any emerging architecture. That's certainly true today, but over the long term, people are moving away from the single-platform architecture that AppStream reinforces.
AppStream's architecture does offer a novel way for companies to leverage existing software and programmers. And it can, in theory, drive down the cost of running all those hard-to-manage PCs that are sitting on workers' desks.
- Rafe Needleman
email: rafe-needleman@catchoday.com
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