Marimba Inc has launched the latest version of its Castanet Java- based software distribution technology and this time it has added compression in a further attempt to minimize the problem of bandwidth congestion associated with distributing application over the internet and intranets. Marimba developed some of the compression technology itself and licensed other elements from unknown third parties. It uses a compression algorithm called ZLIB, which Marimba says is capable of up to 50 percent compression and is understood by Java, WinZip, gzip and other algorithms. But once the file is downloaded for the first time, only updates need be downloaded from then on due to Marimba’s fractional differencing technology, and those two can be compressed using ZLIB, says the company. Network administrators can choose between high compression, which eats up server CPU time, versus Marimba’s, which is the technology that determines which parts of the application needs to be updated and only downloads the software accordingly. Castanet 2.1 features a slide bar so that administrators can determine how much compression versus differencing they want to use when distributing applications, depending on the relative load on the server and clients’ CPUs and the network. This will be the last version of Castanet before version 3.0, says newly-installed product marketing manager Reno Marioni, recently of InfoScape. He said it’s too early to talk about version 3.0, but emphasized that it will further enhance the management functions and dispel widely- held notions that Marimba is a push technology company, rather than a software distribution and management outfit. Castanet 2.1, currently in beta, will be available next month. Prices start at $1,000. Two year-old Marimba, which grew out of Sun’s Java team, recently moved to Mountain View, California from Palo Alto.
