InformationWeek

PointCast Inc. and other vendors used push technology to deliver continuous streams of news, stock-market data, and other information to PC users starting in 1996. But the service hogged bandwidth, and the technology was eventually shunned by most companies.

Today's push technology from vendors such as BackWeb and Marimba Inc. is more mature, says David Hybels, a senior adviser with the Extraprise Group, an E-commerce research and consulting firm. BackWeb's Polite, for example, has built-in bandwidth-management capabilities that won't disrupt network traffic.

Push vendors have also changed their target markets. While PointCast's now-defunct service had a consumer focus, BackWeb's Polite is designed for business-to-employee and business-to-business applications. The vendor also markets Polite-based applications, such as Sales Accelerator, which supply customer data, industry news, and other information to salespeople.

But push may be particularly beneficial for online marketplaces and exchanges, Hybels says. It can be used to alert buyers of price changes and special deals, for example. "It's a great way to drive traffic to your online marketplace," he says.