Originally published on 04/25/2002

The one thing all computer advances are supposed to be is faster. But from time to time, we end up taking a step backwards.

Fast Facts: FineGround Networks www.fineground.com
CEO	B. Natarajan Kausik. Last job: CEO, Arcot Systems
HQ	Campbell, CA
Employees	25
Market	Web application acceleration
Funding	$21M in two rounds. B round lead: Worldview Technology Partners. Not currently raising funds.
Profitable?	Projected in Q1 2003

For example, take Web-based applications. It's bad enough to run business-critical applications on a browser, over a network. When you put hundreds or thousands of users on a network not designed to serve applications, you get slower response time, grumpy users, and reduced productivity.

There are fixes, such as FineGround Networks' "Condenser," which sits at the application server's site. When users request a new page, the Condenser application sends to the client only what's changed on the screen since the last request, lowering the network traffic and improving performance. A new feature will also intelligently pre-fetch and cache data that a user's profile indicates they might later want, further improving perceived performance.

The product is being sold directly and through integrators like Accenture. If it works, I don't know why application vendors like PeopleSoft and Siebel wouldn't quickly integrate it into their products.

But really, there's no substitute for bandwidth. So I was especially interested to talk with the founders of Rainmaker Technologies, whose technology simply crams more bits into a pipe. A triumph of mathematics and chip design, Rainmaker uses "wavelet" technologies instead of the current QAM (quadrature amplitude modulation) or OFDM (orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing) for data transmission. The company is initially targeting the cable TV industry, and its wavelet data can be transmitted through the same infrastructure and alongside existing signals.

The company claims a 10x improvement in subscriber performance, which to a cable company means more channels and more potential revenue, not to mention potential market expansion into business networking. Rainmaker sees Broadcom as a competitor, and CEO Paul Chin wonders: Will Broadcom ignore, attack, or buy the company outright?

- Rafe Needleman
email: rafe-needleman@catchoday.com

• FineGround Networks
• Rainmaker Technologies
• Akamai (content caching)
• Inktomi (caching appliances page)
• Bang Networks (network application technology)
• KnowNow (Web services routing)
• Broadcom (Rainmaker competitor / acquirer?)
• Narad Networks (broadband technology)
• Xtend Networks (data over broadband)
• Advent Networks (secure Internet over broadband)

• Catch of the Day: Pieces of apps
• FineGround Accelerates Web Applications (Software Development Times)
• Dynamic Caching Gear Speeds Content (Internet Week)
• Start Making Sense (Byte.com)
• Soon, It's Gonna Rain (I, Cringely)
• Has Intel Abandoned Moore's Law? (ISPworld)
• Cable companies move to tiered pricing (News.com)