XDS

XDS automatisiert den regelmäßigen Datenaustausch mit entfernten und verteilten Lokationen.

Transferiert Informationen, Daten, Konfigurationen und Programme zum definierten Zeitpunkt an definierte Empfänger, mit Zustellgarantie, automatisierten Fehlerbehandlung und Rückmeldung.

Whitepaper

XDS "Push"-Technology

The Internet is currently the favorite playground for millions of PC users. With few rules and regulations, the private user can surf inexpensively on the Data Highway. This results in an exciting and entertaining hobby for the public, but complete frustration for a professional user. Low speed connections, security risks combined with information chaos do not offer ideal conditions to derive the real benefit of the global information network.

Within a very short period, Intranets have gained in popularity within companies and organizations. Simply stated; Intranets are the enterprise wide networks, based upon Internet technology. The goals of Intranets are to provide the employees of a multinational corporation access to important corporate and public data anywhere in the world. Only a standard browser (Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer) is needed by the user to access the Intranet and retrieve information. At the website, a combination of server and gateway software will provide access to any data base or application server system. Password protection can provide the access security necessary to ensure privacy and protection of corporate data.

This system architecture is a typically Pull technology. This means, the user (client) must interactively search for the information. This can be a time consuming job requiring intense hands on involvement. What a waste of time and resources! In order to obtain the desired information the user must click repeatedly. They must search manually for what they need. Finally, after having found the information, they must download it to their desktop manually once again.

These actions are well known by the many millions of net surfers. Current Pull technology is not suitable for a coordinated and controlled data flow within a corporate Intranet. The installation of the internal search engines neither cures the symptoms nor solves the basic problem. Another disadvantage of Pull technology is that the remote outside user controls and decides completely on the information flow. Manipulation and misuse of information can not be prohibited once access has been granted.

Thus IS-managers are depending completely on the discipline of the employees. Experience tells us, that users working on the Internet are quickly becoming very creative, without producing any efficient output. In practice this leads to information chaos and turns a well-intended advantage very quickly into a disadvantage.

The explosive development of the Internet is based upon the rush to deploy the two major net applications: Electronic Mail and the World Wide Web. Both of these Web applications are typical Pull technology. The development of Push marks the crucial turning point of growth in the Internet history. Push technology is based upon a specific system architecture. The design allows the control of data flow by specialized network centric servers. These servers provide and channel information - in the same manner as information brokers. The Push server is content oriented and distributes virtually any kind of information, such as news, software programs, updates, videos and presentations.

The goal is to deploy a system with proven reception of data with little or no user intervention and participation. Without this technology it is impossible to implement business applications in Intranets. The user should not be concerned about the data flow nor should they repetitively request it over and over. They should simply enter a subscription to the desired information channel once and with zero user intervention the desired data transfer would be performed for example in the middle of the night. The next morning the requested information is available on the user’s desktop.

To deploy this powerful technology the System Administrator would install a tiny push client receiver onto the personal desktop. This would place control of the information gathering into the hands of the system administrator who would decide when and what information the user will get. In manner the system administrator fully controls the data flow, even to remote sites and telecommuters.

Xnet Communications is a system integrator that specializes in data communication systems connectivity. Projects completed by Xnet include systems for branch offices, sales forces, field service organizations and the integration of multi-national WANs. Xnet has a rich heritage in solving the demanding problems created by large-regional and international data communication networks. With its latest development, Xnet Communications brings a new system into the market, which allows Push oriented data distribution into the Internet and Intranets. XDS (eXtended data Distribution System) utilizes the latest PC Server technology - Windows NT and fulfills the communication requirements, independently of the existing data processing equipment. This allows future growth or complete infrastructure equipment changes. This is the major benefit of XDS. The central idea - upon which XDS is based - is unattended totally automated file transfer from multiple remote and local sites with bullet proof guaranteed delivery. XDS was developed as a true 32-Bit Multi-Threading technology to support the latest WAN physical transport link technologies such as ATM, Frame Relay and ISDN and allows customers to use private, (VPN) and public (POTS), networks. Through the use of the TCP/IP protocol XDS automatically distributes and maintains software applications and content within a company or across the Intranet and Internet.

Currently the XDS Server supports Windows NT 4.0 and can be installed in single or multiple iteration as needed. The XDS Server component is located on the central LAN. The central data base (Oracle, MS-SQL-Server, Sybase or IBM DB/2) coordinates data integration within the XDS System. Installation of the database may be on the same Windows NT system or any other supported platform within the LAN (NT or UNIX server). By supporting standard data base servers Xnet allows the use of external tools to access the XDS system data (i.e. syslog, clients, jobs, tasks). In this manner the system can easily be customized and scaled as necessary. The following operating systems are supported in the remote sites; UNIX, Windows NT, Windows 95 and OS/2.

All major software distribution solutions for LANs are based upon the following idea: Each time the workstation performs a login to the server, additional data can be exchanged with the server component of the data distribution system. This data exchange process is dependent upon user interaction. What happens when the user does not log in for a while, for example one-week? There is no way to activate the communication from the server and to collect or distribute the latest information update. The only opportunity to access the data and transfer it would be to poll the server periodically from the workstations. Regarding the low bandwidth and high costs in WANs or in VPNs, this LAN oriented procedure is not practicable.

Unlike the LAN based systems XDS supports another way to collect or distribute data. At the central location (XDS server) jobs for clients or client groups will be defined. These jobs will be scheduled and executed in a predefined time window. It is not the client, who decides what data is received or when it will be sent. That is the responsibility of the XDS system administrator at the central location. They decide the optimum load balance in the WAN by using the XDS provided optimized scheduling algorithm.

The correct setup of remote access hardware (ports) and the bandwidth scale (Mbps) is a very complex task. It causes nightmares for the most talented of IT-managers. With the centrally controlled XDS Push technology it is easy to make the right choice of the combination of channels, sessions and time windows. If necessary, the setup will be corrected instantly by the XDS system. In this manner XDS can efficiently be used to correct the chronic overflow of the Intranets. Unreachable Intranet servers at peak hours belong to the past.

The consequent implementation of the Push technology in XDS provides the ability to send pre-determined data to a fixed user at a fixed time. XDS automatically distributes and maintains software applications and content within a company or across the Intranet and Internet.