Ex-Microsoft Workers Spin Web 3000 -- Start-Up's Technology Speeds Access To Internet

A Redmond start-up company - unique for having top executives who once worked for fierce Internet combatants Microsoft and Netscape Communications - is drawing early attention with software designed to dramatically speed home dial-up connections to the World Wide Web.

Located less than a mile from Microsoft, Web 3000 has come up with a process aimed at reducing the "world wide wait" of the Web, which surveys have indicated is the biggest deterrent to new Web customers. Web 3000's software uses proprietary technology to sample, update and cache, or store, a user's favorite sites for quicker retrieval.

The idea is nothing new, and other companies have offered Web accelerators, but Web 3000 takes a different technological tack and achieves much faster rates, said Chief Executive Officer Gene Kavner, a former architect of The Microsoft Network (MSN).

The company's first of several anticipated products, WebSonic Internet Accelerator, is due out next month. Web 3000 has drawn largely on "angel" and founder funding, including Microsoft stock, but is attracting attention from local venture capitalists as well, including Paul Allen's Vulcan Ventures and a new fund, Voyager Capital, focused on high technology in this region.

In a demonstration comparing Web 3000's acceleration with a typical 28.8 kilobits-per-second connection, the former consistently achieved page call-ups as fast, if not faster, than a high-speed office connection.

Kavner, 34, a seven-year veteran of Microsoft, developed the technology after leaving Microsoft just over a year ago. To build sales and partnerships, he brought in former MSN cohort Vishal Nanda, 28, who had left for a stint at Connectix before joining Netscape as senior product manager for its pioneering SuiteSpot server line used by companies to set up intranets - internal networks based on Internet connections.

"Gene called and said, `You know how at Microsoft we always used to talk about how we would do things differently if we had our own company? Well, now we've got our chance,' " recounted Nanda.

Kavner felt lucky to lure Nanda back to the Northwest. "Finding good people is our biggest challenge," he said. Web 3000 hired its 10th employee Monday and is on the verge of adding another Silicon Valley recruit.

With Microsoft and Netscape still slugging it out on the Web, Nanda acknowledged that lunch conversations at Web 3000 "can be pretty interesting." But he emphasized that the company's products will work with either Microsoft's or Netscape's browser.

"We're browser-agnostic," said Nanda, who uses Microsoft's Internet Explorer 4.0, Netscape's Navigator 3.0 and Netscape Communicator as a way of keeping abreast of user experience on the Web.

Web 3000 is considering several marketing options, including free distribution on the Web in hopes of snaring customer interest in enhanced versions and additional company products. Free downloading has worked well for start-ups, including RealNetworks, the Seattle-based audio-video Internet company formed by former Microsoft executive Rob Glaser.

Paul Andrews' phone message number is 206-464-2360. His e-mail address is: pand-new@seatimes.com