New Chip to Help Speed Internet Traffic

The World Wide Wait may be over.

Computer chip giant Intel on Monday announced a way for Internet surfers to download images twice as fast over regular phone lines without any special equipment or software--but it will add about $5 to monthly access fees.

The technology, called Quick Web, is installed on the computers called servers that Internet services use to store and relay data. The combination of Intel hardware and special software compresses all the graphic images that are piped through the server, boosting access speed.

“The more pictures on the screen, the faster it is,” said Dave Preston, Internet marketing manager for Intel.

For years, a major complaint about the Internet has been the long download times required for graphics and data-hogging files over a typical 28.8 kilobit-per-second modem.

Preston said the primary motivation for the technology was to improve the performance of the Internet, removing that roadblock and spurring more computer sales. Intel chips are in 90% of the world’s personal computers.

“We’re at a place right now where the general consumer on the Web has hit a frustration point and they’re looking for ways to speed up access,” said Tim Bajarin, president of Creative Strategies Research International in San Jose.

He noted that the increase in speed varies, depending on the content of the Web page. Text will not get much boost, if any, but some graphics could be more than twice as fast, even seven times as fast.

“I think its appeal will be very, very broad,” Bajarin said.

A demonstration at the Intel Architecture Lab based in Hillsboro, using two identical laptop computers hooked to the same telephone line, showed the Quick Web system significantly speeded up downloads of graphics- and photo-laden Web sites.

“We can do enough compression on the fly to make it run twice as fast,” said Jim Valerio, one of the system’s developers.

Intel, based in Santa Clara, Calif., has already lined up Internet service providers Netcom, Erols and GlobalCenter to offer the service, available as early as Monday.

“There is a significant segment of computer users who don’t want to waste time with downloads,” Preston said. “Those people who have a little extra money and want to save time are more than willing to pay for it.”

Just before Quick Web was announced, Intel drew criticism from some Web site publishers for a marketing program they claimed would slow down the Web and interfere with editorial content.

Intel was attempting to persuade some Web sites to use more graphics-intensive features best handled by its Pentium II line of microprocessors and include a tagline to advertise the chips.

But Intel spokesman Adam Grossberg said the voluntary program will not slow down the Web--”in no way, in no form”--nor does Intel interfere with the editorial content of Web sites.

A spokeswoman for ZDNet, a Web publishing unit of Ziff-Davis Inc. that offers the graphics-intensive features, said there was no pressure to use them.

Valerio said the Quick Web system boosts the speed of existing computer networks without having to invest in new infrastructure, such as high-speed cables, fiber optic lines or satellites.

Eventually, those technologies and ever-faster computers will boost Web access to much higher levels, but this will help bridge the gap in “bandwidth,” or the size of the electronic pipeline used to carry data.

“It’s like putting the Columbia River through a garden hose,” said Bill Calder, an Intel spokesman in Hillsboro.