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Resource Guide on Distributed Media:
Local / CD-ROM / Online / Web

This survey/guide relates to all aspects of integrating local and online information access. Such hybrid combinations of online and offline resources complement the inherent limitations of single-mode solutions to provide maximum power and economy, and are gaining wide attention. Examples typically exploit online/offline modes of communication to achieve efficiency, economy, convenience, and portability, and often rely on offline, distributable storage media (such as CD-ROM and diskette) to complement online access, such as in CD/online hybrids.

The guide is offered as an industry service by Teleshuttle Corporation, the first independent provider of enabling technology for local/online/offline solutions. Teleshuttle no longer offers software or operations services of its own--now Teleshuttle offers consulting services on all aspects of distributed media, connective media, and e-business.

Links to this area are invited. Suggestions for additional resources which should be listed here, or for clarifications/corrections to our commentary are welcome and may be sent to info@teleshuttle.com. Our objective is not to be exhaustive, but to include references which are stimulating or noteworthy (with a moderate level of editorializing).

Note (8/28/98): This guide currently represents significant developments through most of 1996. Resources have not be available to keep this current due to other business commitments (and it is known that some links are no longer active). Those who would like to encourage further updates are invited to email.

Part 1: General Information - Technology, Concepts, and Business Issues

Part 2: Product/Vendor Information

General Technology and Business Information
Search Engine Vendors
Internet Software Vendors
Online/Offline Internet Tools and Services
Packaged Hybrid Technology
Online Services
Internet Service Providers
Publishers and End-Products

(Updated 11/25/96)

Part 1: General Information

Concepts

A broad perspective on the concept of distributed local, online, networked media and its long-term role is given in All power to the Web, CD-ROM is dead -- or is it?, a short white paper by Richard R. Reisman (New York New Media Association News, August 1996).
The first broad analysis of CD-ROM/Online Hybrids is the March, 1995 article in CD-ROM Professional Magazine by Richard R. Reisman. Principles and issues are explained in some detail.
Some excellent survey articles, which primarily cover what we consider first generation hybrids, are:
- The CD/ONLINE Enablers: Vendors and Services Taking the Hybrid Lead, by Stephen Nathans, in CD-ROM Professional, March 1996.
- Going Hybrid: The Online/CD-ROM Connection, by Domenic Stansberry, in New Media Magazine, June, 1995. A related item is Inside the Hybrid Link. (no longer online)
- Dial-A-Disk, by Kandy Arnold, in Multimedia Producer, June, 1995. (no longer online)
A partial step toward CD/Web combinations is the idea of publishing CDs using HTML and a Web browser in local mode -- all content is on the CD, and no network connection is used. This exploits the standard Web content format and user interface to facilitate multi-mode (CD and online) publishing, without getting into either the costs or the benefits of full integration. Some early work on such strategies was reported in a session at SIGCAT '95 (unfortunately the transcript is of very poor quality).
CD-ROM and Web Browsers: HTML as the Lingua Franca (by Guenette and Gustavson, CD-ROM Professional, August 1996), provides an in-depth survey of CD-ROMs based on HTML, including both standalones and emerging CD/Web hybrids.
Hybrid 'Net: CD-ROMs & the Web working in tandem, by Rosebush and Watt (Netscapeworld, August 1996) provides additional insight into CD/Web hybrids, especially browser integration issues.
A key component of more advanced CD/Web combinations is the hybrid searching capability supported by some of the major search engine providers, such as PLS and Verity.
Offline use of information obtained online is another key aspect of distributed media. This idea is gaining significant attention as the limits of pure online solutions are becoming more apparent. Emergent activity in this area is described in The Internet Turns On To Offline and Freebies May Spark Online Shift in Inter@ctive Week (January 15, 1996), and Electronic Publishing's Missing Link? in Inter@ctive Week (March 25, 1996). Teleshuttle's WebShuttle service is an example of such an online/offline mode, and other online/offline products and services are listed below. Most of these approaches do not yet provide effective integration of searching into their offline mode.
The Next Generation in CD Web Hybrids, outlines Teleshuttle's view of the powerful new second-generation in CD/Web hybrids that can now be based on emerging, mainstream, off-the-shelf tools for 1) CD caching, 2) hybrid searching, and 3) offline access. (published in Mass High Tech, September 2, 1996, based on a January 1996 white paper.) The debut of WebCD from MarketScape is a notable partial step toward such integration.
Intel launched a high-profile effort (direct from Andrew Grove) to promote hybrid / distributed media approaches at its Internet Media Symposium (July 24, 1996, Burlingame, CA). This included a white paper on Advanced Multimedia and PC Communications Roadmaps for Hybrid Application Development, which covers motivations and technical approaches, and featured a Technology Showcase of products from various software and content companies. Intel concludes as we did that "bandwidth for most consumers is evolving at a slower rate than PC performance. Yet…'hybrid applications' will enable consumers to take full advantage…of PCs…along with…the Internet."

Other General Resources

CD-ROM Professional magazine is the journal of record for the field, and now has a Web site with many useful resources (selected older materials may be found at a gopher site).
General CD-ROM Background:
A wealth of materials can be found in a resource directory provided by The CD Information Center, and another at the CD-ROM Information Web Site. Another valuable resource on general CD-ROM technology and products is The Special Interest Group on CD-ROM Applications & Technology (SIGCAT), "a network of people who share a vision that CD-ROM will profoundly change the way in which they deal with information" (which is particularly strong on work in the government sector).
The special area of CD Plus / Enhanced CDs / CD-ROM/XA for music discs (which include CD-ROM data in addition to standard CD-audio) is addressed in a resource guide by Malcom Humes.

Part 2: Vendor/Product Information

General Technology and Business Information:

We naturally recommend our own Teleshuttle Corporation site. A range of tools and packaged solutions are described, with product examples, technical background, and working demos available for download.
An excellent white paper on Creating CD-ROM Applications with Spyglass Mosaic is available from Spyglass, the licensor of Mosiac, a key player in Web technology. This paper outlines some of the issues of distributed media in the Web environment (as well as local CD browsing), and the special software support for CD/Web hybrids being provided in Mosaic.
A very clever approach to integrating the Web with standard music CDs was taken in Voyager's CDLink product (July 1995). CDLink enables HTML pages to control the play of standard Red Book audio tracks--high-res digital music pre-positioned at your desktop (with all rights fully licensed). This is analogous to the often discussed, but yet to be applied concept of using CD based multimedia elements to support dynamic Web pages--in this case the multimedia elements are Red Book CD audio tracks, instead of Yellow Book CD-ROM data. CDLink adds an HTML link type (which invokes a special helper application driven by a small command file) to control the audio play. A variety of annotations, reviews, and discographies can be found at the Voyager CDLink site, and an interesting concept discussion is provided by artist/developer Malcolm Humes.

Search Engine Vendors:

A number of search engine vendors have provided for use of their tools for combined CD and online searches. Some provide standard support for integrated local and online searches. Others offer special tools or custom solutions. Most of these solutions are based on live online searching, which requires network access for the duration of the search session (which typically involves searching, browsing, search refinement, and further browsing), and thus are not yet integrated with online/offline modes of Internet access.

The first announcement of a standard, integrated facility for local/Web searching was by Personal Library Software (PLS), in a December 1994 press release for PLWeb. PLS describes "distributed searching," as a generalized facility that can spawn searches on a CD and an arbitrary number of PLWeb-based servers, to perform parallel searches of potentially massive collections and then combine the results into a single hit list. Further information is provided in their announcement of PLWeb-CD (3/5/96).
A similar integrated CD/Web solution was announced in a July 1995 press release by Verity. Their Topic WebAgents Publishers Toolkit / Topic CD Publisher includes HTML and Acrobat support, and allows consistent support of agent queries that can filter dynamic information sources such as newswires. Availability of Release 1.2 of TopicCD-Web Publisher was announced 2/20/96.
DataWare offers a variety of CD and online tools, and has produced some non-Internet CD/online hybrids on a custom basis. A CD/online solution to deliver service provider technical documentation for Toshiba America is cited in an August 1995 press release.
Folio Corporation has taken a different approach to the Web, by offering its Folio Infobase Web Server, which mimics its popular VIEWS search interface features in the Web/HTML environment, allowing its proprietary infobase format, which is widely used on CDs and LANs to be published on the Web as well.

An alternative approach is the online/offline or intermittent connect approach. A typical strategy is to go online to retrieve updated contents or an update index, then disconnect and do unlimited searching and browsing offline. This is useful for users who lack online subscriptions, or for mobile users, and tends to be more economical.

Teleshuttle's Folio VIEWS Plug-in embeds this form of communications into the VIEWS user interface. The Plug-in fetches online updates, in the form of VIEWS "shadow files" onto the hard disk, where they can then be searched offline by VIEWS, in seamless combination with the original CD data, with no further communications activity.

Internet Software Vendors:

As Internet tools evolve, facilities for integration of local and network content, and for integration of Internet function into distributed applications are becoming key areas of competitive development. This area is obviously very dynamic.

Sun's Java has attracted the most attention, catalyzed the vision, and staked out one approach to advanced function. Java is a network-centric beast, but it can also be applied in local and online/offline contexts (such as WebShuttle), as well.
Microsoft has counterattacked with a vengeance, and is moving aggressively to Internet-enable its entire world. An interesting position paper with some parallels to our Distributed Media white paper is The Internet-Just Another Name for Client/Server Computing.
Netscape provides a variety of levels of support for customization, including Java, JavaScript, Plug-ins, API's (its own OLE version and Spyglass's SDI DDE version). The Fall 1995 data sheet for Navigator 2.0 cited "CD-ROM caching: allows quick, seamless access to CD-ROM-based media." This became real when the N3.0 beta shipped in Spring 1996 with LiveCache, which "lets programmers create a customized cache that can reside on a CD-ROM or a local file system. Content developers can now more easily take advantage of video, audio, or other kinds of content that may be cumbersome to download over a network. Using LiveCache, a user can install a CD-ROM loaded with Web content, and then visit a related Web site for updates or interactive pages without being hampered by slow network performance."
Spyglass has had a strategy of providing core enabling technology rather than end-products, working with partners who build on its browser technology, and has offered a Software Development Interface. This was used to address CD-ROM integration as described in Creating CD-ROM Applications with Spyglass Mosaic. This component strategy was extended with the April 15, 1995 announcement of the Spyglass Web Technology Kit, "which breaks out its client technology into components for easier integration of World-Wide Web technologies to Web-enable applications, services or devices."
Next's WebObjects is another key component technology for embedding Internet function into distributed applications, drawing on Next's highly respected object technology.
The Sax Webster OLE Contol from Home Page Software is another Web component technology, with low cost unlimited run-time licensing.
Offline browsers (and search engines) support distribution of HTML content on CDs:
- I-View is a simple low-cost offline-only HTML browser offered by Talent Communications specifically intended for use in local and CD-ROM applications, with low-cost unlimited run-time licensing. An I-View Pro version also includes a local search engine.
- NetRoad is a shareware offline-only browser, which is also offered in combination with a local search engine called LIKSE.
Additional browser software options and issues are described in CD-ROM and Web Browsers: HTML as the Lingua Franca and Hybrid 'Net: CD-ROMs & the Web working in tandem.

Online/Offline Internet Tools and Services:

This mode of access has emerged as a hot area as the limitations of purely online access have become increasingly apparent. Offline searching of local content downloaded by these tools is not yet supported, but should be expected to be added as their usage becomes established.

This category has gradually gained attention with the success of Pointcast, which leverages a screen-saver style, dynamic presentation and an interesting business model, and with two prominent endorsements:
- Time Warner Chairman Gerald Levin announced on April 11, 1996 that Pathfinder Personal Edition would be delivered using Open Market's OM-Express, and that the service would be provided to all CompuServe users. OM-Express enables either publisher or user-defined packages of Web content to be delivered to the hard disk for offline use.
- Intel's Internet Media Symposium promoted the entire category and included participation by First Floor Software (Smart Bookmarks, licensed by Netscape, AOL, and others), and IFUSIONcom (ArrIve, licensed by CNN, c|net, and others).
Offline access is poised to become fully mainstream with indications that all major browsers will provide offline features as a standard facility:
- Netscape Internet Inbox Direct was announced August 19, 1996 as providing such support for Navigator 3.0. Their approach is based on a mailbox model (pushed by the publisher rather than pulled by the user) and fully supports rich, hyperlinked multimedia Web content. The Netscape Intranet Vision and Product Roadmap (July 16, 1995) also announced a continuing series of enhancements in its next browser, Galileo, and server, Orion, to support rich client replication services (as well as server replication). "Replication also makes it easy to take network resources such as discussion groups and directories offline in a way that allows the user to continue to make changes and updates; when the user goes back online, all the changes are properly reconciled."
- Reports are that Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 will also provide significant offline/replication features (Jesse Berst of PC Week, 8/19/96, and others), and that Microsoft's direction is to move toward fully distributed media, where there is no functional difference between local and remote media objects (or between Web views and the desktop view).
- Replication is, of course, the stronghold of Lotus Notes, which has offered powerful server and client replication facilities for years. With their embrace of the Web with Domino, Notes client replication features will be available for any Web content through the Notes 4.5 client web browser's "Web Ahead" and "Site Minder" features. The need for broad client and server replication functions for the Internet is becoming increasingly recognized as critical to an efficient infrastructure, and is now getting substantial investment by all serious players. Microsoft is not the only sleeping giant that has awakened, and Lotus has a chance to be a major player if they can leverage Domino's early success (which is especially strong in the intranet market). Another step in this direction was the October 30 announcement of Weblicator, which packages Lotus' rich offline replication functions for use with any browser and any server. PC Week (11/11/96) describes it as "poised to leapfrog all other offline Web browsing utilities."
- Replication is just one aspect of how extensions of groupware and intranet technology will be central to the future development of Internet applications. For a broad overview, see the article on Intergroupware by Richard R. Reisman.
Digital Delivery was one of the first to provide offline service, with its initial use being to deliver CMP's TechWeb, on October 18, 1995.
Other early offerings in this dynamic area include:
- ForeFront Group (WebWhacker)
- Freeloader
- Milktruck
- Specter Communications

Packaged Hybrid Technology:

Teleshuttle's Transporter API was the first independent tool to enable simple, automated communications (dial or Internet) in a form that can be easily integrated into CD-ROMs and other local applications. It was embedded into the Blockbuster Video Guide to Movies and Videos, which CD-ROM Professional magazine judged "one of the best consumer CD-ROM/online hybrids."
A different and novel application of the same technology is the WebShuttle, which enables local/Web hybrids and offline Web access that does not require Internet subscriptions. This solution can be applied by itself, or as an additional option in conventional ISP OEM subscription bundles.
[CD-Net Systems briefly outlines proprietary technology at a prototype level which is intended to combine CD-ROM images and video with Web pages on the net. The approach is said to involve special user interface tools as well as OCR technology. -- As of 11/96, this site seems to be gone; they were in North Vancouver BC, at 604-986-6161.]
WebCD from MarketScape (announced August 26, 1996) provides a neatly integrated tool for facilitating the production of Web/CD hybrids -- a significant step toward the vision we have described as The Next Generation in CD Web Hybrids. While it does not yet have all of the features we have envisioned, version 1 appears to be a powerful tool that is available to publishers now, and plans for version 2 promise to move in the right direction. Marketscape is venture-backed and focused on this market. We suggest any publisher considering hybrids give it a good look.
HyperCD is another CD/Web hybrid technology specialist (announced September 26, 1996), but offers their technology only as part of a total service. They feature proprietary video support and encryption for pay-per-view approaches.

Online Services:

The major consumer online services selectively permit links from CD-ROMs (or other applications) to their services. These usually target specific areas such as bulletin boards or chat areas. Such arrangements typically require users to join the online service. Inclusion of this capability in a CD-ROM product is generally subject to an approval/negotiation process based-on the ability of the CD offering to bring new significant numbers of new users to the online service.

CompuServe was the first to make a toolkit available, the CompuServe Communications Toolbox, announced in early 1995 and based on its earlier Host Micro Interface technology, which had long been used for specialized local/online applications. (No relevant Web reference known).
AOL announced a similar facility, AOL Developers Studio in November, 1995.
Prodigy has similar tools, but we are not aware of a packaged offering. (No relevant Web reference known).
MSN has aggressively emphasized the use of Windows95 shortcuts and other tools (such as Blackbird) for links from local applications (including CD-ROM) to MSN or the Web. In February 1996, Microsoft announced that it was moving directly from Blackbird to an Internet-based facility, now called Internet Studio. Aside from CD-ROMs, Microsoft has championed inclusion of online links into Enhanced CD music discs.

Internet Service Providers:

ISPs are increasingly turning to OEM or affinity group "bundles" which package a browser pre-set to a sponsor's home page. This is a win-win solution to bringing customers to the sponsor's Web site and acquiring new subscribers for the ISP. These are particularly well suited to CD-ROM and Enhanced CD, but can be distributed on diskette as well.

SPRY Mosaic Direct is the highest profile of these offerings, and has been used by major marketers such as Hilton Hotels and Dell Computer (distributed on diskettes). (No current Web reference known)
Intuit introduced an innovative coupling of its Quicken '96 with Quicken Financial Network (in October 1995), by providing free links to. The service offers free access to the QFN Web site from the Quicken product CD, plus the option to pay for a general Web access subscription (carried by Concentric Networks). Such sponsored Internet access is something we expect to see much more of.

Publishers and End-Products:

Microsoft Complete Baseball was the first major consumer CD-ROM product to offer an online supplement (March 1994). The Baseball Daily feature offered a download of daily news and game scores, and was integrated into the user interface, but the content was not integrated . (No current Web reference known).
CompuServeCD was the first major online service to offer a CD-ROM supplement (March 1994). This periodical series provides links to various online forums, and an index to files available for download with an online link to do the downloads. (No relevant Web reference known).
The Blockbuster Video Guide to Movies & Videos was the first consumer CD-ROM to include monthly online updates with (50-100 new film reviews) that seamlessly integrate into the main CD database (July 1995). This product applies the Teleshuttle Transporter API under the developer's own proprietary user interface.
Microsoft Encarta 96 CD-ROM was the first encyclopedia to offer deep Web integration, including a fully integrated series of content updates, with a feature called Yearbook Builder, which provides for insertion of update icons into existing articles for links to updates that have been downloaded to the hard disk.
The 1996 Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia features links to relevant CompuServe forums.
Ventana Press is an early developer of CDs with links to the Web, with two online "books" about the Web: Walking the World Wide Web and Internet Roadside Attractions. These are actually print plus CD-ROM, and the feature they call WebWalker links the CD to an online companion.
The Coriolis Group has offered a CD on the Grand Canyon, with Web links, including a novel approach to dealing with links that change after publication.
An early CD/Web hybrid used to achieve product documentation cost reduction put at $4 million by Cisco Systems, was developed by Verity based on Spyglass Mosaic.
An excellent example of wide applicability of CD/Web hybrids is the CyberSearch CD-ROM from Frontier Technologies, which permits offline Lycos searching.
Financial applications have been pioneers of local/online hybrid approaches. WealthBuilder is an early example, which goes online to Reuters Money Network (originally Reality), a dedicated online service, to update stock portfolios and obtain market reports.
Another area of early activity has been in the business/legal information market. Many of the major online search vendors offer some degree of online/offline capability. These products tend to be very specialized in form, because of the special search interfaces, and limited in nature, because of the massive databases involved and the concern of the vendors about giving up online revenue.
Additional end products are cited in the various survey articles listed in Part 1: General Information. (The list here is of products of particular note, especially if not cited in other cited sources.)

The philosophy lab - our own recent thinking

Contact Information

Comments, suggestions, corrections:

Richard R. Reisman, President, Teleshuttle Corporation
799 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
(212)-673-0225 fax: (212)-673-0226
e-mail: info@teleshuttle.com

Note (8/28/98): This guide currently represents significant developments through most of 1996. Resources have not be available to keep this current due to other business commitments (and it is known that some links are no longer active). Those who would like to encourage further updates are invited to email.