GLOBALCAST COMMUNICATIONS INC. (Fremont, Calif.) announced the proposal of a reliable IP Multicast standard, called the Reliable Multicast Transport Protocol-II (RMTP-II) to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), the Internet's standards body.

RMTP-II allows Internet service providers (ISPs) to offer controlled quality of service (QoS) levels to content providers who wish t o deliver multimedia streams of audio/video, and real-time data to many recipients at once. Companies who have announced support for the effort include Intel, Lucent and Sprint.

"Reliable Multicast is a key emerging technology that will enable firms to deliver rich, real-time information to thousands of users at once, and we are pleased that GlobalCast is submitting the standard to the IETF," said Abel Weinrib, director of Intel's communications-architecture lab.

ADSL.NET offers a JavaScript-based real-time chat room for discussion on Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line. Also find message boards, event information and myriad links .

"IF YOU LOOK AT the way demand for the Internet is growing, it's absolutely mind-boggling. It's at 1,000 percent growth a year. Think of other models like the PC industry, where Moore's Law rules. We're not doubling every 18 months, but every 3.6 months.

"The Internet will be at the fulcrum of what changes the industry.

"Our vision is to build a phone company that looks more like a Silicon Valley PC startup. If this is wrong, you'll be talking to a different guy [in my job] next year."

-John Sidgemore, president of Worldcom Inc.'s Uunet Technologies

EVALUATION ENGINEERING MAGAZINE from Nelson Publications (Nokomis, Fla.), which addresses the electronics test-and-evaluation market, has a site. Find archived articles and online buyers guides with links to manufacturers' sites. Topics include automated test equipment, test instrumentation, environmental test, electrostatic discharge (ESD) control, electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) and inspection.

RADIALL INC. (Paris) with North American headquarters in Stratford, Conn., manufacturer of coaxial products, microwave devices and fiber-optic products, has a site. Find product and service info.

SWITCHCRAFT INC. (Chicago), a manufacturer of audio/video components, connectors, jacks, plugs, jack panels and patch kits, has revamped its site. It includes info on its 50-year history.

CHIPSEARCH.COM is a new subscriber service
for the IC industry which processes
and tracks inventory, requirements, offers and quotes.
Search for parts is $35 a month,
and unlimited is $125 month.

THE ELECTRONIC DESIGN AUTOMATION CONSORTIUM and EE Times are hosting the Design Achievement Awards to recognize outstanding IC and electronic-system development through the use of EDA tools. There are seven categories, and the deadline is May 15.

THE MAGNIFICIENT 12-part HBO special From The Earth to the Moon has produced an equally stellar Web site at.

Cleverly divided into related categories, each page has splashy graphics, and interesting "Did you know?" facts-such as "The command module offered 73 cubic feet per man-as opposed to 60 per man in a compact car."

The Command Module page has e pisode summaries-with a glossary of technical terms and a profile on the astronauts and engineers involved on the week's featured mission, with QuickTime video clips.

The Service Module has a related timeline and history.

The Excursion Module page, of most interest to the technically minded, has spectacular 3-D environments-in VRML and QuickTime VR. There's a
3-D animation of the launch of the Saturn V rocket-you can feel your way around the Command Module and the Lunar Module cockpit, and even Mission Control.

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