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The WAVE Report on Digital Media
3D --- Media Creation --- Shared Space ---Published by 4th Wave, Inc.--- Issue #0512------------------3/25/05 |
The WAVE Report is Searchable on
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0512.1 Secure Content Certificates
VeriSign Selects Authentify to Automate Delivery of Digital Certificates to Businesses
0512.2 Small-Business Server Technology
HP Makes Server Technology Easier to Buy and Own for Small and Mid-Size Businesses
0512.3 Commercial Satellite Communications
0512.4 Digital Home
0512.5 Miniature Storage
M-Systems Introduces Smallest Wide SCSI Flash Disk Designed Specifically for Blade Servers
0512.6 Fuel Cells
0512.7 Remembering Energy Conservation at Home
Arizona Power Provides Timely Advice for Home Appliance Energy Conservation
0512.8 Changes at the FCC
Kevin Martin Takes the Helm at the Federal Communications Commission
0512.9 Mobile Telephony
Global Survey Finds That Mobile Phones Are Replaced Most Frequently, but with a Cost
0512.10 Internet Search
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0512.1 Secure Content Certificates
***VeriSign Selects Authentify to Automate Delivery of Digital Certificates to Businesses
CHICAGO
March 21, 2005
Authentify has announced that VeriSign, Inc., is using the Authentify voice-based authentication service as part of its validation services. This service is used by VeriSign to verify that a digital certificate is requested by the organization applying for it, and reduces the time it takes a US-based customer to receive one. Typically, an organization that has a valid business registration and domain registration can get a fully authenticated server certificate in less than one day using this service.
VeriSign selected Authentify for its ability to streamline costs and employee time associated with the telephone verification portion of its validation process. The Authentify service integrates with VeriSign's existing validation process and enables US server certificate orders to pass through the automated telephone verification system in minutes. Authentify, which has developed a patented system that binds a Web session with an outbound telephone call, automatically completes the vast majority of its telephone verification transactions for VeriSign without human intervention. The ability to integrate smoothly allows direct contact with VeriSign customers, through the navigation of auto-attendant switchboards and live operators as required by VeriSign's strict validation policies.
About the Authentify Service
Authentify uses the most ubiquitous and reliable technology in the world, the telephone network, as an authentication tool for Internet transactions. The company has developed a patented process that enables Web sites or other network access points to place a real-time automated telephone call to the person who is attempting to conduct an online transaction. Once the person answers the call, he/she is prompted for information being displayed on their computer screen. The Authentify two-factor authentication process ensures that the person on the phone is in control of the web session, and provides a legally recognized audit trail that binds the transaction.
0512.2 Small-Business Server Technology
***HP Makes Server Technology Easier to Buy and Own for Small and Mid-Size Businesses
PALO ALTO, Calif.
March 21, 2005
HP has announced an expansion of its Smart Office initiative for small and mid-size business customers (SMBs) that provides customers and channel partners with education, services, marketing tools and expert guidance to explain in specific terms how server technology can help solve business problems and simplify IT purchasing decisions.
The new Smart Office program, called HP ProLiant Business Advantage,
collapses the world of industry-standard server solutions into three
easy-to-understand categories:
-- Blades for Business -- Helps mid-size business customers operate more efficiently, grow flexibly and better control costs by deploying blades to simplify multi-server environments.
-- Rack Advantage -- For SMBs with IT support, the HP ProLiant family of solutions includes a comprehensive portfolio of rack servers, storage and management software to simplify the setup and management of their IT environments to help reduce costs and improve employee productivity.
-- Simple Affordable Computing -- HP helps small business owners who may not have IT support understand the benefits of adding a first server to their business or of upgrading existing servers to help improve information organization and reduce risk of data loss.
Blades for Business: The Benefits of HP BladeSystem Solutions for Mid-Size
Firms
With nearly half of all HP BladeSystem solutions being sold to mid-size businesses, HP is expanding its reach to help more SMBs take advantage of the benefits this technology can bring to their businesses with the launch of the Blades for Business component of the ProLiant Business Advantage program on May 2.
According to a recent Gartner user survey in North America, nearly 20 percent of small and low-end mid-size businesses cited plans to purchase a server blade, while 35 percent of upper-end mid-size businesses cited plans to purchase a blade server.
Unlike individual rack-mount components, HP BladeSystem solutions are indeed systems -- integrating servers, storage, networking equipment, power and management software. Affordable and scalable, HP BladeSystem solutions are ideally suited for companies looking to grow their infrastructure incrementally, consolidate to a standardized platform or build a new business with limited resources. They help reduce management costs, cabling costs and power consumption to provide a lower total cost of ownership than traditional rack-mount servers, and thus a better return on IT investment.
Components of the Blades for Business program, which extend beyond the existing HP BladeSystem solutions offerings, will include:
-- A new entry-level HP BladeSystem solution that is easy to purchase, install and manage. This solution provides the essential components to help a business get a jumpstart on a first HP BladeSystem implementation: an HP BladeSystem enclosure, a new 1U power supply, management software and an HP ProLiant server blade. The HP BladeSystem solution allows SMBs to leverage previous IT investments by fitting into the same rack as existing servers, storage and networking devices. It also provides affordable scalability with the simple addition of new server blades and enclosures as the company's needs grow.
-- Information and resources on the HP Small Business website to make it easy for customers to understand and buy HP BladeSystem solutions.
-- Systemic, scalable HP Services consulting, integration and services packages to help small businesses and channel partners develop blade implementations tailored to meet customers' needs and help get their new or expanded IT infrastructure up and running quickly.
-- Training, marketing tools and incentives to help channel partners better sell and service HP BladeSystem solutions for their SMB customers.
-- Roadshows bringing HP BladeSystem solutions to customers and channel partners in countries around the world for hands-on demonstrations of how blade server technology can help SMBs solve business problems.
HP plans to expand the Rack Advantage and Simple Affordable Computing components later this year, providing additional information, training, marketing tools and incentives to help HP channel partners better serve their SMB customers.
More information on the Blades for Business program is available at the company’s web site, with details on specific program components expected to be available in the next few months.
http://www.hp.com/sbso/serverstorage/index.html
0512.3 Commercial Satellite Communications
***AMC-12 Successfully Completes IOT; First-of-Its-Kind Satellite Slated for Commercial Operations in Early April
PRINCETON, N.J.
March 21, 2005
SES AMERICOM, an SES GLOBAL company, announced that the AMERICOM-12 (AMC-12) satellite that was launched on February 3, 2005, has successfully completed a full battery of in-orbit-tests and is now being drifted into its 37.5 degrees West orbital location. The large, high-powered, C-band satellite, the first operating Spacebus 4000, is scheduled to begin commercial service by April 8, 2005.
As operations on the new spacecraft get underway, three regional operators are implementing discrete marketing plans specially developed for the satellite. SES AMERICOM will be offering AMC-12 capacity to interconnect the U.S. with Europe/Middle East/Africa and with South America, as well as to deliver services throughout Latin America. SES ASTRA has branded its 33 AMC-12 transponders offering services into Africa as "ASTRA 4A". And, Star One has purchased 18 transponders on the new satellite to expand its services portfolio within South America and will integrate the capacity into their fleet as "Star One C-12".
AMC-12 Satellite
Built by Alcatel Space, the Spacebus 4000 spacecraft, the first of this generation platform, has been prepared for service at the 37.5 degrees West longitude orbital position. AMC-12 is a high-powered C-band satellite with seventy-two 36 MHz transponders organized into three regional beams: North America, South America and Europe/Middle East/Africa. The satellite's advanced design and high power levels ... from 67 watts in Europe/Middle East/Africa and South America to 33 watts in North America ... will support a wide range of applications from TV broadcasting to high-speed internet connections, facilitating reception and higher data throughput to smaller C-band antennas. AMC-12's extensive coverage reaches from the U.S. to the eastern reaches of the Mediterranean, and from Cape Town, South Africa to Lima, Peru. For additional flexibility and reach, the three beams may be interconnected through on-board switching on an individual transponder basis.
***JupiterResearch's New European Digital Home Service Reveals Europe's Digital Differences are Narrowing
NEW YORK
March 21, 2005
JupiterResearch, a division of Jupitermedia Corporation, has announced the publication of its annual European Digital Life Index (DLI) and the launch of a new research service, European Digital Home. The report reveals that differences in digital sophistication among European countries are narrowing but there remains a clear geographical hierarchy, ranging from the most digitally sophisticated Scandinavian markets at the top, to the least sophisticated southern European countries.
JupiterResearch's Digital Life Index scores seventeen Western European countries across forty different technology variables. JupiterResearch's DLI enables companies to assess the market opportunity for new digital product launches across the continent. Since 2003, the differences in digital sophistication between the developing markets and the mature markets have narrowed. The Scandinavian countries Sweden, Denmark and Norway again fill the top three positions, each driven by strong digital device adoption and highly developed Internet markets. The U.K. is the fourth most sophisticated in Europe and the highest-ranking northern European market, due largely to a dynamic digital TV sector and recent strong broadband growth. Germany, in ninth place, and France, in tenth place, both sit near the European average whereas weak Internet and TV trends contribute to Greece being in seventeenth place with the lowest European DLI score.
Jupiter researchers found that the European Digital Life Index demonstrates that digital lifestyles are common today, but across Europe there is no single digital lifestyle. Consumers adopt different digital products and services in different countries. Continued consumer adoption of digital products and services such as Digital Video Recorders, broadband, and Video on Demand will drive further digital sophistication of the European home.
The European Digital Life Index is the first report in JupiterResearch's new European Digital Home research service, which analyzes the market for digital consumer electronics as those devices become smarter, more digital and more connected. This new JupiterResearch service helps companies understand the arrival of the digital home in Europe and the evolving roles that the TV, hi-fi, home networking, console gaming and other digital platforms and devices will play in European consumers' lives. Using proprietary consumer survey data and market forecasts, the service provides strategic guidance to all companies in the digital home arena, enables companies to assess the market opportunity for new digital products and advises those companies on how to maximize revenue opportunities from emerging consumer behavior patterns.
The complete findings of the report are immediately available to JupiterResearch clients online.
http://www.jupiterresearch.com
***M-Systems Introduces World's Smallest Wide SCSI Flash Disk Designed Specifically for Blade Servers and Other Space-Constrained Applications
4th Annual Server Blade Summit
SANTA CLARA, Calif.
March 22, 2005
M-Systems has released the FFD 2.5" Ultra Wide SCSI flash disk. Manufactured in a case height measuring as little as 11.5mm, this new product is the smallest flash disk currently available with a wide SCSI interface.
High-density computing applications with extreme space limitations, such as blade servers, provide a challenge for system designers. Blade servers are extremely dense rack-mount servers, which require data storage that complies with low-output HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air-Conditioning). Traditional mechanical disks, due to their rotating mechanism, have difficulty complying with this requirement and typically operate at +5 degrees Celsius to +55 degrees Celsius. With an operating range of -40 degrees Celsius to +85 degrees Celsius, M-Systems' solid-state FFD flash disk complies with NEBS level 3, which is the highest standard for mission-critical telecommunications applications.
A high mean time between failures (MTBF) enabled by M-Systems' technology and TrueFFS flash management software allows blade server customers to replace two rotating mechanical disks and deploy only one FFD flash disk without the need for a back-up. Such replacement ultimately provides cost savings, low maintenance, less power consumption and free space within the blade, which yields increased airflow and enables future blade servers to be even smaller than they are today.
About the FFD 2.5" Ultra Wide SCSI
The FFD 2.5" Ultra Wide SCSI is a solid-state disk with an 80-pin hot-swap connector designed to perform with a burst read/write rate of up to 40 megabytes per second. Based on M-Systems' TrueFFS flash file system, it is designed to offer the industry's highest endurance and reliability rates of more than 5 millions write/erase cycles. The FFD 2.5" Ultra Wide SCSI is currently in mass production and is available now.
More information about M-Systems' FFD products can be found online.
http://www.m-systems.com/content/Products/FFDFamily.asp
***New Electronic Technology Advances Fuel Cell Development University Seeks Patent, Shares Technology With Partners In DOE's SECA Program
Washington, DC
With the U.S. Department of Energy’s announcement of yet another advance in the development of fuel cell technology, the nation moves one step closer to the time when all barriers—including cost, size, and efficiency—are overcome to make fuel cells commonplace in our homes and businesses.
Researchers at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, working under a research grant managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory, developed a highly efficient converter that can boost low DC (direct current) voltage produced by solid oxide fuel cell stacks to the higher voltage required for conversion to AC (alternating current) for household and commercial applications. The boost is significant because it provides another technological step in increasing the efficiency, and reducing the size and cost of fuel cells.
Virginia Tech, which is applying for a patent on the technology, developed its converter in the Department of Energy’s Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) Program, created to hasten the development of solid oxide fuel cells so they could be affordably marketed for power generation.
Under terms of the SECA partnership, Virginia Tech will offer each of the SECA industrial teams the first option to enter into an agreement—legally called a non-exclusive license—to apply the converter technology to their solid oxide fuel cell development projects. In a related matter, a private company has expressed an interest in Virginia Tech’s converter and is negotiating to apply it to solar, wind, and other renewable power technologies.
Virginia Tech’s device, when combined with highly efficient switching and digital control techniques, converts 22 volts to 400 volts at 97 percent energy efficiency. The device is able to boost voltage and reduce 120-hertz ripple current to 2 percent without the costly, bulky capacitors or additional converters that are customarily used. The net effect is that fuel consumption, the size of fuel cell systems, and costs are reduced, thereby taking a significant step toward SECA’s goal of 40–60 percent overall fuel cell efficiency at a cost of $400 per kilowatt by 2010. SECA studies indicate that each 1 percent improvement in inverter efficiency can reduce fuel cell stack costs by $5–$10 per kilowatt.
As the nation anticipates unbridled growth in the demand for electricity in the near future, fuel cells are viewed as an attractive source of energy because they provide significant environmental, energy, and economic benefits. By producing electricity through chemical reactions, fuel cells don’t require combustion processes or the equipment of traditional power generation. Fuel cells emit very low levels of pollutants when powered by fossil fuels, such as natural gas, and virtually no pollutants when powered by hydrogen. SECA fuel cells will also permit flexible operation on a variety of fuels and will provide both distributed and central generation options that will greatly enhance U.S. energy security.
Once their costs are reduced to the $400 per kilowatt level and efficiency goals are attained, fuel cells can be used as power generation resources in a variety of ways, such as onsite power for houses and commercial properties, transportation, and modular application by utilities. In addition, the flexibility of solid oxide fuel cells to be combined with turbines as ultrahigh efficiency hybrids contributes significantly to the Administration’s FutureGen concept, a plan for the zero-emission, high-efficiency power plant of the future.
As a key component of FutureGen, fuel cells serve as a foundation for the Administration’s Clean Coal Power Initiative, a cost-shared partnership between government and industry to demonstrate coal-based, advanced power-generation technologies.
0512.7 Remembering Energy Conservation at Home
***Arizona Power Provides Timely Advice for Home Appliance Energy Conservation
Phoenix, AZ
For the average Phoenix area home, 15 to 20% of the annual electric bill is spent running household appliances. The energy efficiency of your home appliances varies greatly depending on the model of the appliance, specific features and your energy usage habits.
EnergyGuide and Energy Star Labels Help Consumers
Make Wise Buying Decisions. Most new major appliances have a bright yellow EnergyGuide label that compares the product’s energy use and typical annual operating costs with other models of similar size and features (see the example below). This informative label will help you evaluate the energy performance of appliances with different features and capacities. In addition to the EnergyGuide label, look for the EPA’s Energy Star sticker on the appliance. This sticker means it exceeds minimum federal standards for energy efficiency and is one of the most cost-efficient appliances you can buy.
After heating and cooling equipment and water heaters, the main energyconsuming appliances in your home are:
- Refrigerator/freezers
- Clothes washers
- Clothes dryers
- Dishwashers
- Ranges
The following information will help you make an energy-wise decision when purchasing home appliances.
Refrigerators
The refrigerator accounts for up to 8% of most typical energy bills. Sideby-side refrigerator/freezers typically use 35% more energy than models with the freezer on top. If you keep them defrosted, manual-defrost models usually use about half as much energy as automatic defrost models. Chest (top loading) freezers are typically 10-15% more efficient than upright (front loading). There are exceptions to these rules, so it pays to check the EnergyGuide label. Advanced energy-efficient features on new refrigerators include:
- Better insulation
- More efficient compressors
- More efficient coils
- Improved temperature and defrost mechanisms.
You should also look for refrigerators that display EPA Energy Star labels. To get the most efficient unit, choose the right size model for your needs and look for a model with an energy-saver switch that allows you to turn off anti-condensate heaters when the humidity is low. Energy Star refrigerators exceed minimum federal standards for energy consumption by at least 20%.
Clothes Washers
A typical household washes nearly 400 loads of laundry each year. Up to 90% of the energy used to wash clothes goes to heating the water. Energy-efficient clothes washers use about half the water and 30-40% less energy than older models. When buying a new clothes washer, look for models with water level and temperature controls. You may also want to consider front-loading machines because they use significantly less water and energy than top loaders. The design of energy-efficient, front-loading washing machines also decreases wear and tear on your clothes.
Clothes Dryers
Energy-efficient clothes dryers have moisture sensors which automatically turn off the dryer as soon as clothes are dry, saving 10 to 15% on energy use. A cool-down cycle, which tumbles clothes in cooler air for the last five to ten minutes of drying, also saves energy and reduces wrinkling. Because the energy use is so close between different brands of clothes dryers, manufacturers are not reguired to provide an EnergyGuide label.
Dishwashers
Energy-efficient dishwashers use less electricity and hot water to effectively clean your dishes. When buying a new dishwasher, choose a model with a builtin electric booster heater. This will allow you to lower your water heater setting to as low as 120 degrees F., cutting your water-heating bill by up to 10%. Other efficiency features to look for include short-cycle selections for less soiled dishes, and air-dry selectors, which automatically shut off the booster heater during the drying cycle, reducing electricity use by up to 20%. Look for the Energy Star label on dishwashers showing the model exceeds minimum federal efficiency standards by at least 13%. About 80% of the energy used to wash dishes goes to heating water.
Ranges
Energy-efficient cooking options include convection ovens, that use a fan to circulate air and provide 25% faster cooking times; radiant cooktops, that give fast cooking response (elements heat to high in less than 10 seconds) and keep your kitchen cooler; and convection/microwave ovens that give you the economical, fast cooking of a microwave, as well as the energy savings of a convection oven. Because the energy use is so close between different brands of ranges, manufacturers are not required to provide an EnergyGuide label.
How Much Can You Save with Energy-Efficient Appliances?
Recent advances have dramatically improved the efficiency of major home appliances, giving homeowners new options for reducing their energy bills. The chart below shows the range of annual energy use for several major appliances. Depending on the appliance, you could save from 10% to over 50% on energy costs by choosing more efficient models over less efficient models.
***Kevin Martin Takes the Helm at the Federal Communications Commission
Washington, DC
March 21, 2005
Kevin J. Martin is now Chairman of the FCC replacing former Chairman Michael Powell. He was nominated to be a member of the Federal Communications Commission by President George W. Bush on April 30, 2001, and was sworn in on July 3, 2001. He was designated chairman by President George W. Bush on March 18, 2005. Chairman Martin serves a five-year term expiring in June 2006. Chairman Martin also serves as the Chair of both the Federal-State Joint Board on Separations and the Federal-State Joint Conference on Advanced Telecommunications Services, as well as a member of the Federal-State Joint board on Universal Service.
Chairman Martin joined the Commission from the White House, where he served as a Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy and was on the staff of the National Economic Council. In that capacity, he focused primarily on commerce and technology policy issues. He also served as the official U.S. government representative to the G-8's Digital Opportunity Task Force, a government, non-profit, and private sector task force created to identify ways in which the digital revolution can assure opportunities for developing countries.
Prior to joining the Bush Administration, Chairman Martin served as a principle technology and telecommunications advisor on the Bush-Cheney Transition team. He assumed this role after serving as the Deputy General Counsel to the Bush campaign in Austin, Texas from July 1999 through December 2000.
Chairman Martin is not new to the Federal Communications Commission. From 1997 to 1999, he served as a Legal Advisor to FCC Commissioner Harold Furchtgott-Roth, advising the Commissioner on telecommunications and broadband issues. Chairman Martin had previously served in the Office of the Independent Counsel following several years of work in private practice at the Washington, DC law firm of Wiley, Rein & Fielding. While at Wiley, Rein & Fielding, he worked on communications, legislative, and appellate litigation matters. Before joining Wiley, Rein & Fielding, Martin was a law clerk for United States Court District Judge William M. Hoeveler in Miami, Florida.
Chairman Martin received a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science with Honors and Distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. While at Chapel Hill, Chairman Martin was elected Student Body President and President of the North Carolina Association of Student Governments. In addition, he also served on the University of North Carolina Board of Trustees. Chairman Martin received a Masters in Public Policy from Duke University and a J.D., cum laude, from Harvard Law School. Chairman Martin is a member of the District of Columbia Bar and the Federal Communications Bar Association.
***Global Survey Finds That Mobile Phones Are Replaced Most Frequently, but with a Cost; Consumers' Purchasing Habits Have Large Environmental Impact
CTIA Wireless 2005
SEATTLE
March 18, 2005
In a recent survey of 20,000 consumers worldwide, a recent GMIPoll found that mobile phones' latest models are the most coveted in 20 of the world's top economies including the USA, UK, China, Russia and India. When consumers were asked what technology they most frequently upgraded, 63 percent cited mobile phones.
The proportion of consumers who are swapping older for the newest models is highest in the fastest growing and potentially largest markets for mobile services, including Asia and South America. Almost 75 percent of consumers surveyed in India and China, and 67 percent in South America, said they upgraded their mobile more frequently than any other technology. This compares to 47 percent of American and 38 percent of French consumers.
This and other findings highlight how new consumer technology products are transforming markets worldwide, but also adding to a growing environmental problem of the waste generated by old technology being disposed of for the latest models. By 2005, 100 million mobiles will be thrown out annually in Europe alone. In the United States, nearly 130 million cell phones -- totaling about 65,000 tons of waste -- will be thrown away every year, according to a recent study by INFORM, Inc., an independent research organization. Disposed mobile phones are growing faster than the volume of waste overall, according to recycling experts. Toxins associated with this waste include heavy metals and poisons such as arsenic, lead, and mercury.
Despite the media alarmism, environmental concerns appear to be having little or no impact on making people think twice about replacing their mobile phones with new models. According to the GMIPoll results, only nine percent of American consumers and 12 percent of UK consumers take environmental impact into account when upgrading new technology; however, in other parts of the world, namely India and China -- 20 and 26 percent respectively -- said environmental reasons could prohibit them from upgrading.
The GMIPoll found that the overwhelming factor in buying a new model mobile devise is cost and contract terms, with 79 percent of consumers surveyed saying this would stop them from upgrading; in India and China, the major factor was also cost.
Full findings from the poll can be found at
***It's Time for Computers to Allow You to Find Information ''The Way You Think,'' Says Siderean Founder; The End of the Digital Jurassic Era, and the Rise of Human Insight
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.
March 21, 2005
Bradley P. Allen, founder of Siderean Software, Inc., told industry executives that the "Jurassic Era" in information management technology is nearly over, and that its next evolution will favor agility and human insight as key adjuncts to the technology. Allen made these remarks during a general unveiling of his company to the information technology industry at the PC Forum, taking place this week in Scottsdale, AZ.
According to Allen, the vastness of available information has resulted in the evolution of two extremes in information management that both depend upon the raw processing power of today's computers. On the one hand, he said, are massive and expensive enterprise knowledge management systems that provide a hard-wired and nearly invariant context for the data. "You could find, for example, all purchased metal parts that failed in the field," he explained afterwards, "but unless the software architects thought of it, you'd hit a wall trying to relate that to world steel prices, which could drive quality down."
At the other end of the spectrum are the statistical search engines, like Google, whose staggering views of worldwide data can produce equally staggering lists of uncorrelated results. "How do you explore the subtleties of an issue in the midst of a thousand 'hits'?" he asked. "We're in a sort of 'digital Jurassic Era,' where the growth of computing power has favored the evolution of brawn, where mass prevails over insight," he stated. "The result is that only a small fraction of the relevant information buried inside the worldwide glut of data makes it into the hands of those who seek it."
The solution, Allen said, is to re-task computers to leverage the way we "think" about data, and to let us help in its management. "Humans are brilliant at zeroing in on 'the right answer' when presented with information that is organized into natural and familiar groupings (or categories). We instantly discard the 90% that is unimportant, drill down into the remaining 10%, discard 90% of that, and within two or three iterations we arrive at what we need, if it exists. We can then crawl around Esther's 'neighborhood,' and learn a great deal in a very short time. Seeing information organized into familiar contexts is the key," he said.
Allen's company, Siderean, has implemented just this capability with a new approach to information management that dynamically organizes the available data to exploit such human insight. According to Allen, the computer is programmed to take its vast processing power and long reach into data to present us with natural and intuition-aiding choices, but we interactively make the critical decisions -- in context.
Turn-key Faceted Navigation
There has been, of late, enough thinking about exploiting human insight in navigating digital data that people have begun calling such approaches "directed navigation" or "faceted navigation," with the occasional application beginning to appear. "Facets" refer to the dimensions or multiple classes in the presentation of available data (such as "color," "size," and "price range" or "sex," "age range," "location," and "viewing preference").
"The challenge," said Dyson, "is to make it simple for the content provider to arrange things in a way that not only makes it easy for users to find the precise information they are seeking, but that also lets them follow 'typed' links to other relevant data wherever it resides inside the system -- for example, to go from a parts listing, to the maintenance history for one part, to the contact information for the maintenance shop. That's so natural for a human -- and normally so tough for a machine! Siderean isn't yet another search engine; I'd call it a structure-discovery and presentation tool."
What sets Siderean's technology apart, Allen explained, is the ease by which such capability can be integrated quickly into Web sites, portals, or information management systems by IT personnel or even "ordinary mortals." It also, out of the box, supports the growing trends of "social bookmarking" -- the process whereby users post online their own bookmarks to sites or data that interests them and others can browse these posts, or even harvest them for republication, and "user tagging" -- which allows online users to "tag" information belonging to others with descriptors (i.e., classifications) that can be used by anyone at some future time to easily unearth that same information.
Although Allen admits such trends are just beginning to gather momentum, they are just one of many possible benefits for Siderean users and potential users. "Our technology goes in typically in a matter of hours -- at worst several days -- and begins offering users the benefits of faceted navigation immediately thereafter. It's a significant step in the evolution of information management and a clear departure from the dinosaur-scale applications that we depend upon today."
Or, as Allen likes to think, perhaps it's the meteor. ...
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