Microsoft Internet Explorer 4.0 can help reduce scheduling conflicts and user interface confusion by providing a standard method for users to schedule information delivery.

The Webcasting architecture in the Internet Explorer 4.0 client provides architectural hooks that allow third parties to provide value-added benefits to enrich the Webcasting experience. Specifically, the Webcasting architecture in Internet Explorer 4.0 allows for plugging in third-party client software that defines new URL transport protocols or provides an alternative delivery mechanism for channels.

Microsoft utilizes this extensible architecture in order to support multicast, or "true push," in Internet Explorer 4.0. By taking advantage of special network hardware, multicast protocols provide bandwidth-efficient broadcasting of content throughout a corporate network. Because of Microsoft's extensible Webcasting architecture, the NetShow™ networked multimedia software component in Internet Explorer 4.0 can receive channel content that is broadcast via such a protocol. Furthermore, in a recently announced relationship, NetShow will integrate with StarBurst Communications' reliable one-to-many Multicast File Transfer Protocol (MFTP) technology. With this technology available in Internet Explorer 4.0, organizations can now take advantage of the bandwidth efficiencies of IP multicast to reliably deliver content to their intranet- and Internet-based users.