Multi-user Vs Client Server Application

There is no denying the fact that the server is a multi-user computer where there is no unusual hardware prerequisite that turns a computer into a server and as such the hardware platform needs to be preferred based on application demands and financial stringency. Servers for client/server applications work unsurpassed when they are configured with an operating system that supports shared memory, application isolation, and preemptive multitasking. An operating system with preemptive multitasking enables a higher priority task to preempt or take control of the processor from a currently executing, lower priority task. The server provides and controls shared access to server resources. Applications on a server must be isolated from each other so that an error in one cannot damage another. Preemptive multitasking ensures that no single task can take over all the resources of the server and thwart other tasks from providing service. There must be a means of defining the relative priority of the tasks on the server. These requirements are specific to the client/server accomplishment and not to the file server implementation. Because file servers execute only the single task of file service, they can operate in a more limited operating background without the need for application isolation and anticipatory multitasking.

The conventional minicomputer and mainframe hosts have acted as de facto enterprise servers for the network of terminals they support. Because the only functionality available to the terminal user is through the host, personal productivity data as well as business systems information is stored on this host server. Network services, application services, and database services are provided centrally from the host server. Many organizations download data from legacy enterprise servers for local manipulation at workstations. In the client/server model, the definition of server will continue to include these functions, perhaps still implemented on the same or similar platforms. Moreover, the advent of open systems based servers is facilitating the placement of services on many different platforms. Client/server computing is a phenomenon that developed from the ground up. Remote workgroups have needed to share expensive resources and have connected their desktop workstations into local area networks LANs have grown until they are pervasive in the organization. However, frequently, they are isolated one from the other. Many organizations have integrated the functionality of their dumb terminals into their desktop workstations to support character mode, host-based applications from the single workstation. The next wave of client/server computing is occurring now, as organizations of the mid-1990s begin to use the cheaper and more available processing power of the workstation as part of their enterprise systems. The Novell Network Operating System (NOS), NetWare, is the most widely installed LAN. It provides the premier file and print server supports. However, a limitation of NetWare for the needs of reliable client/server applications has been the requirement for an additional separate processor running as a database server. The availability of database server software—from companies such as Sybase and Oracle—to run on the NetWare server, is plateful to disseminate this limitation.

Apropos to the functions, Servers provide application, file, database, print, fax, image, communications, security, systems, and network management services. These are each described in some detail in the following sections. It is important to understand that a server is an architectural concept, not a physical implementation explanation. Client and server functions can be provided by the same physical device. With the movement toward peer computing, every device will potentially operate as a client and server in response to requests for service. Application servers provide business functionality to support the operation of the client workstation. In the client/server model these services can be provided for an entire or partial business function invoked through an Inter Process Communication (IPC) request for service. Either message-based requests RPCs can be used. A collection of application servers may work in concert to provide an entire business function. For example, in a payroll system the employee information may be managed by one application server, earnings calculated by another application server, and deductions calculated by a third application server. These servers may run different operating systems on various hardware platforms and may use different database servers. The client application invokes these services without consideration of the technology or geographic location of the various servers. Object technology provides the technical basis for the application server, and widespread acceptance of the CORBA standards is ensuring the viability of this trend. File servers provide record level data services to no database applications. Required memory space for storage is allocated, and free space is managed by the file server.

Catalog functions are provided by the file server to support file naming and directory structure. Filename maximum length ranges from 8 to 256 characters, depending on the particular server operating system support. Stored programs are typically loaded from a file server for execution on a client or host server platform. Database servers are managed by a database engine such as Sybase, IBM, Ingress, Informix, or Oracle. The file server provides the initial space, and the database engine allocates space for tables within the space provided by the file server. These host services are responsible for providing the specialized data services required of a database product—automatic blackout and recovery after power, hardware, or software failure, space management within the file, database reorganization, record locking, deadlock detection, and management. Print servers provide support to receive client documents, queue them for printing, prioritize them, and execute the specific print driver logic required for the selected printer. The print server software must have the necessary logic to support the unique characteristics of each printer. Effective print server support will include error recovery for jams and operator notification of errors with instructions for restart. Fax servers provide support similar to that provided by print servers. In addition, fax servers queue up outgoing faxes for later distribution when communications charges are lower. Because fax documents are distributed in compressed form using either Group III or Group IV compression, the fax server must be capable of dynamically compressing and decompressing documents for distribution, printing, and display. This operation is usually done through the addition of a fax card to the server. If faxing is rare, the software support for the compression and decompression options can be used. Image servers operate in a manner similar to fax servers.

Infrastructure servers provide support for wide area network (WAN) communications. This support typically includes support for a subset of IBM System Network Architecture (SNA), asynchronous protocols, X.25, ISDN, TCP/IP, OSI, and LAN-to-LAN NetBIOS communication protocols. In the Novell NetWare implementation, Gateway Communications provides a leading communications product. In the LAN Server and LAN Manager environments, OS/2 communications server products are available from IBM and DCA. In the Banyan VINES environment, the addition of DCA products to VINES provides support for SNA connectivity. UNIX servers provide a range of product add-ons from various vendors to support the entire range of communications requirements. VMS servers support Decent, TCP/IP, and SNA as well as various asynchronous and serial communications protocols. MVS servers provide support for SNA, TCP/IP, and some support for other asynchronous communications. Security at the server restricts access to software and data accessed from the server. Communications access is controlled from the communications server. In most implementations, the use of a user login ID is the primary means of security. Using LAN Server, some organizations have implemented integrated Response Access/Control Facility (RACF) security by creating profiles in the MVS environment and downloading those to the LAN server for domain control. Systems and network management services for the local LAN are managed by a LAN administrator, but WAN services must be provided from some central location. Typically, remote LAN management is done from the central data center site by trained MIS personnel. The discussion in the following sections more specifically describes the functions provided by the server in a NOS environment. Requests are issued by a client to the NOS services software resident on the client machine. These services format the request into an appropriate RPC and issue the request to the application layer of the client protocol stack. This request is received by the application layer of the protocol stack on the server. File services handle access to the virtual directories and files located on the client workstation and to the server’s permanent storage. These services are provided through the redirection software implemented as part of the client workstation operating environment.

To diminish the effort and effect of installation and maintenance of software, software should be loaded from the server for execution on the client. New versions can be updated on the server and made immediately available to all users. In addition, installation in a central location reduces the effort required for each workstation user to knob the installation process. Because each client workstation user uses the same installation of the software, optional parameters are consistent, and remote help desk operators are aware of them. This simplifies the analysis that must occur to provide support. Sharing information, such as word processing documents, is easier when everyone is at the same release level and uses the same default setup within the software. Central productivity services such as style sheets and macros can be set up for general use. Most personal productivity products do permit local parameters such as colors, default printers, and so forth to be set locally as well. Backups of the server can be scheduled and monitored by a trained support person. Backups of client workstations can be scheduled from the server, and data can be stored at the server to facilitate recovery. Tape or optical backup units are typically used for backup; these devices can readily provide support for many users. Placing the server and its backups in a secure location helps prevent theft or accidental destruction of backups. A central location is readily monitored by a support person who ensures that the backup functions are completed. With more organizations looking at multimedia and image technology, large optical storage devices are most appropriately implemented as shared servers. High-quality printers, workstation-generated faxes, and plotters are natural candidates for support from a shared server. The server can accept input from many clients, queue it according to the priority of the request and handle it when the device is available. Many organizations realize substantial savings by enabling users to generate fax output from their workstations and queue it at a fax server for transmission when the communication costs are lower. Incoming faxes can be queued at the server and transmitted to the appropriate client either on receipt or on request. In concert with workflow management techniques, images can be captured and distributed to the appropriate client workstation from the image server. In the client/server model, work queues are maintained at the server by a supervisor in concert with default algorithms that determine how to distribute the queued work. Incoming paper mail can be converted to image form in the mail room and sent to the appropriate client through the LAN rather than through interoffice mail. Centralized capture and distribution enable images to be centrally indexed. This index can be maintained by the database services for all authorized users to query. In this way, images are captured once and are available for distribution immediately to all authorized users. Well-defined standards for electronic document management will allow this technology to become fully integrated into the desktop work environment. There are dramatic opportunities for cost savings and improvements in efficiency if this technology is properly implemented and used. Article 10 discusses in more detail the issues of electronic document management.

In the early hours database servers were actually file servers with a different interface. Products such as dBase, Clipper, FoxPro, and Paradox execute the database engine primarily on the client machine and use the file services provided by the file server for record access and free space management. These are new and more powerful implementations of the original flat-file models with extracted indexes for direct record access. Currency control is managed by the application program, which issues lock requests and lock checks, and by the database server, which creates a lock table that is interrogated whenever a record access lock check is generated. Because access is at the record level, all records satisfying the primary key must be returned to the client workstation for filtering. There are no facilities to execute procedural code at the server, to execute joins, or to filter rows prior to returning them to the workstation. This lack of capability dramatically increases the likelihood of records being locked when several clients are accessing the same database and increases network traffic when many unnecessary rows are returned to the workstation only to be rejected. The lack of server execution logic prevents these products from providing automatic partial update blackout and recovery after an application, system, or hardware failure. For this reason, systems that operate in this environment require an experienced system support programmer to assist in the recovery after a failure. When the applications are very straightforward and require only a single row to be updated in each interaction, this recovery issue does not arise. However, many client/server applications are required to update more than a single row as part of one logical unit of work. Client/server database engines such as Sybase, IBM’s Database Manager, Ingress, Oracle, and Informix provide support at the server to execute SERVER APPLICATION requests issued from the client workstation. The file services are still used for space allocation and basic directory services, but all other services are provided directly by the database server. Relational database management systems are the current technology for data management. The major disadvantage with the hierarchical technique is that only applications that access data according to its physical storage sequence benefit from locality of reference. Changes to application requirements that necessitate a different access approach require the data to be reorganized. This process, which involves reading, sorting, and rewriting the database into a new sequence, is not transparent to applications that rely on the original physical sequence. Indexes that provide direct access into the database provide the capability to view and access the information in a sequence other than the physical sequence. However, these indexes must be known to the user at the time the application is developed. The developer explicitly references the index to get to the data of interest. Thus, indexes cannot be added later without changing all programs that need this access to use the index directly. Indexes cannot be removed without changing programs that currently access the index. Most implementations force the application developer to be sensitive to the ordering and occurrence of columns within the record. Thus, columns cannot be added or removed without changing all programs that are sensitive to these records. Application sensitivity to physical implementation is the main problem with hierarchical database systems. Application sensitivity to physical storage introduced considerable complexity into the navigation as application programmers traverse the hierarchy in search of their desired data. Attempts by database vendors to improve performance have usually increased the complexity of access. If life is too easy today, try to create a bidirectional virtually paired IMS logical relationship; that is why organizations using products such as IMS and IDMS usually have highly paid database technical support staff. As hardware technology evolves, it is important for the data management capabilities to evolve to use the new capabilities. Relational database technology provides the current data management solution to many of the problems inherent in the flat-file and hierarchical technologies. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, products such as Software AG’s ADABAS and System 2000 were introduced in an attempt to provide the application flexibility demanded by the systems of the day. IBM with IMS and Cull net with IDMS attempted to add features to their products to increase this flexibility. The first relational products were introduced by ADR with Dotcom DB and Computer Corporation of America with Model 204. Each of these implementations used extracted indexes to provide direct access to stored data without navigating the database or sorting flat files. All the products attempted to maintain some of the performance advantages afforded by locality of reference (storage of related columns and records as close as possible to the primary column and record).

The development of a relational algebra defining the operations that can be performed between tables has enabled efficient implementations of RDBMS. The establishment of industry standards for the definition of and access to relational tables has speeded the acceptance of RDBMS as the de facto standard for all client/server applications today. Similar standards do not yet exist for OODBMSs. There is a place for both models. To be widely used, OODBMSs need to integrate transparently with RDBMS technology. Table 4.1 compares the terminology used by RDBMS and OODBMS proponents. Relational databases are characterized by a simple data structure. All access to data and relationships between tables are based on values. A data value occurrence is uniquely determined by the concatenation of the table name, column name, and the value of the unique identifier of the row (the primary key). Relationships between tables are determined by a common occurrence of the primary key values. Applications build a view of information from tables by doing a join based on the common values. The result of the join is another table that contains a combination of column values from the tables involved in the stick together. There remain some applications for which RDBMS have not achieved acceptable performance. Primarily, these are applications that require very complex data structures. Thousands of tables may be defined with many relationships among them. Frequently, the rows are sparsely populated, and the applications typically require many rows to be linked, often recursively, to produce the necessary view. The major vendors in this market are Objectivity Inc., Object Design, onto, and Versant. Other vendors such as HP, Borland, and Ingress have incorporated object features into their products. The application characteristics that lead to an OODBMS choice are shown in Figure 4.3. OODBMS will become production capable for these types of applications with the introduction of 16Mbps D-RAM and the creation of persistent (permanent) databases in D-RAM. Only the logging functions will use real I/O. Periodically, D-RAM databases will be backed up to real magnetic or optical disk storage. During 1993, a significant number of production OODBMS applications were implemented. With the confidence and experience gained from these applications, the momentum is building, and 1994 and 1995 will see a significant increase in the use of OODBMSs for business critical applications. OODBMSs have reached a maturity level coincident with the demand for multimedia enabled applications. The complexities of dealing with multimedia demands the features of OODBMS for effective storage and manipulation.

Client/server applications require LAN and WAN communication services. Basic LAN services are integral to the NOS. WAN services are provided by various communications server products. Article 5 provides a complete discussion of connectivity issues in the client/server model. Client/server applications require similar security services to those provided by host environments. Every user should be required to log in with a user ID and password. If passwords might become visible to unauthorized users, the security server should insist that passwords be changed regularly. The enterprise on the desk implies that a single logon ID and logon sequence is used to gain the authority once to access all information and process for the user has a need and right of access. Because data may be stored in a less physically secure area, the option should exist to store data in an encrypted form. A combination of the user ID and password should be required to decrypt the data. New options, such as floppy less workstation with integrated data encryption standard (DES) coprocessors, are available from vendors such as Beaver Computer Company. These products automatically encrypt or decrypt data written or read to disk or a communication line. The encryption and decryption are done using the DES algorithm and the user password. This ensures that no unauthorized user can access stored data or communications data. This type of security is particularly useful for laptop computers participating in client/server applications, because laptops do not operate in surroundings with the same physical security of an office. To be able to access the system from a laptop without properly utilizing an ID number and password would be courting disaster. NetWare is a family of LAN products with support for IBM PC-compatible and Apple Macintosh clients and IBM PC-compatible servers. NetWare is a proprietary NOS in the strict sense that it does not require another OS, such as DOS, Windows, Windows NT, OS/2, Mac System 7, or UNIX to run on a server. A separate Novell product—Portable NetWare for UNIX—provides server support for leading RISC-based UNIX implementations, IBM PC-compatible systems running Windows NT, OS/2, high-end Apple Macs running Mac System 7, and Digital Equipment Corporation VAXs running VMS. NetWare provides the premier LAN environment for file and printer resource sharing. It had 62 percent of the market share in 1993. It is widely installed as the standard product in many organizations.

Suffice it to say that LAN Manager and its IBM derivative, LAN Server, are the standard products for use in client/server implementations using OS/2 as the server operating system. LAN Manager/X is the standard product for client/server implementations using UNIX System V as the server operating system. Microsoft released its Advanced Server product with Windows NT in the third quarter of 1993. During 1994, it will be enhanced with support for the Microsoft network management services, currently referred to as “Hermes,” and Banyan’s Enterprise Network Services (ENS). Advanced Server is the natural migration path for existing Microsoft LAN Manager and IBM LAN Server customers. Existing LAN Manager/X customers probably won’t find Advanced Server an answer to their dreams before 1995. AT&T has taken over responsibility for the LAN Manager/X version. Vendors such as Hewlett-Packard (HP) have reticence the product from AT&T. AT&T and Microsoft has an agreement to maintain compatible APIs for all base functionality. LAN Manager and Advanced Server provide client support for DOS, Windows, Windows NT, OS/2, and Mac System 7. Server support extends to NetWare, AppleTalk, UNIX, Windows NT, and OS/2. Client workstations can access data from both NetWare and LAN Manager Servers at the same time. LAN Manager supports NetBIOS and Named Pipes LAN communications between clients and OS/2 servers. Redirection services are provided to map files and printers from remote workstations for client use. Advanced Server also supports TCP/IP communication. In early 1994, Advanced Server still will be a young product with many missing pieces. Even more troublesome, competitiveness between Microsoft and Novell is delaying the release of client requestor software and NetWare Core Protocol (NCP) support. Microsoft has added TCP/IP support to LAN Manager 2.1 and Advanced Server along with Net View and Simple Network Management Protocol (SNMP) agents. Thus, the tools are in place to provide remote LAN management for LAN Manager LANs. Microsoft has announced support for IBM Net View 6000 for Advanced Server management.

Advanced Server provides integrated support for peer-to-peer processing and client/server applications. Existing support for Windows NT, OS/2, UNIX, and Mac System 7 clients lets application, database, and communication servers run on the same machine as the file and print server. This feature is attractive in small LANs. The native operating system support for preemptive multitasking and storage protection ensures that these server applications do not reduce the reliability of other services. Even as Windows NT is rolled out to provide the database, application, and communications services to client/server applications, the use of Novell as the LAN NOS of choice will continue for peripheral resource sharing applications. Microsoft has attempted to preempt the small LAN market with its Windows for Workgroups product. This attacks the same market as NetWare Lite with a low-cost product that is tightly integrated with Windows. It is an attractive option for small organizations without a requirement for larger LANs. The complexities of systems management make it less attractive in an enterprise environment already using Novell. WWW can be used in conjunction with Novell for a workgroup wishing to use some WFW services, such as group scheduling. IBM has entered into an agreement to resell and integrate the Novell NetWare product into environments where both IBM LAN Server and Novell NetWare are required. NetWare provides more functional, easier-to-use, and higher-performance file and print services. In environments where these are the only LAN functions, NetWare is preferable to LAN Manager Derivatives. The capability to interconnect to the SNA world makes the IBM product LAN Server attractive to organizations that prefer to run both products. Most large organizations have department workgroups that require only the services that Novell provides well but may use LAN Server for client/server applications using SNA services such as APPN. IBM and Microsoft had an agreement to make the APIs for the two products equivalent. However, the dispute between the two companies over Windows 3.x and OS/2 has ended this cooperation. The most recent releases of LAN Manager NT 3 and LAN Server 3 are closer to the agreed equivalency, but there is no guarantee that this will continue. In fact, there is every indication that the products will diverge with the differing server operating system focuses for the two companies. IBM has priced LAN Server very attractively so that if OS/2 clients are being used, LAN Server is a low-cost option for small LANs. LAN Server supports DOS, Windows, and OS/2 clients. No support has been announced for Mac System 7, although it is possible to interconnect AppleTalk and LAN Server LANs to share data files and communication services.

Street Talk enables resources to be uniquely identified on the network, making them easier to access and manage. All resources, including file services, users, and printers, are defined as objects. Each object has a Street Talk name associated with it. Street Talk names follow a three-level hierarchical format: Item@Group@Organization. For example, a user can be identified as Psmith@Cerritos@Tnet. All network objects are stored in a distributed database that can be accessed globally. Novell’s NDS is similar to Street Talk in functionality. However, there are key differences. NDS can partition and replicate the database, which will generally improve performance and reliability. NDS is X.500-compliant and enables multiple levels of hierarchy. Street Talk supports a fixed three-level hierarchy. The NDS architecture offers more flexibility but with corresponding complexity and Street Talk is less flexible but fewer complexes to manage. One advantage the current version of Street Talk has over NDS is that Street Talk objects can have unlimited attributes available for selection. Novell and Microsoft have announced support for Banyan ENS within their products to be available in Q2 1994. Banyan and DCA provide SNA services to the VINES environment. VINES support UNIX, DOS, Windows, OS/2, and Mac System 7 clients. NFS is the standard file system support for UNIX. PC NFS is available from Sun Select and FTP to provide file services support from a UNIX server to Windows, OS/2, Mac, and UNIX clients. Client/server computing requires that LAN and WAN topologies be in place to provide the necessary internetworking for shared applications and data. Gartner Group1 surveyed and estimated the Microsystems’ integration topologies for the period 1986-1996; the results appear in Figure 4.6. Of special interest is the projection that most workstations will be within LANs by 1996, but only 14 percent will be involved in an enterprise LAN by that date. These figures represent a fairly pessimistic outlook for interconnected LAN-to-LAN and enterprise-wide connectivity. These figures probably will prove to be substantially understated if organizations adopt an architectural perspective for the selection of their platforms and tools and use these tools within an organizationally optimized systems development environment (SDE). Routers and communication servers will be used to provide communication services between LANs and into the WAN. In the client/server model, these connections will be provided transparently by the SDE tools. There are significant performance implications if the traffic volumes are large. IBM’s LU6.2 implementation in APPC and TCP/IP provides the best support for high-volume, LAN-to-LAN/WAN communications. DEC’s implementation of DECnet always has provided excellent LAN-to-WAN connectivity. Integrated support for TCP/IP, LU6.2, and IPX provides a solid platform for client/server LAN-to-WAN implementation within DECnet.

The lack of real estate on the desktop encouraged most organizations to move to a single device—using terminal emulation from the workstation—to access existing mainframe applications. It will take considerable time and effort before all existing host-based applications in an organization are replaced by client/server applications. In the long term, the host will continue to be the location of choice for enterprise database storage and for the provision of security and network management services. Mainframes are expensive to buy and maintain, hard to use, inflexible, and large, but they provide the stability and capacity required by many organizations to run their businesses. As Figure 4.7 notes, in the view of International Data Corporation, they will not go away soon. Their roles will change, but they will be around as part of the enterprise infrastructure for many more years. Only organizations who create an enterprise architecture strategy and transformational plans will accomplish the migration to client/server in less than a few years. Without a well-architected strategy, gradual evolution will produce failure. Information that is of value or interest to the entire business must be managed by a central data administration function and appear to be stored on each user’s desk. These applications are traditionally implemented as Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) to the mainframe or minicomputer. With the client/server model, it is feasible to use database technology to replicate or migrate data to distributed servers. Wherever data resides or is used, the location must be transparent to the user and the developer. Data should be stored where it best meets the business need. Online Transaction Processing applications are found in such industries as insurance, finance, government, and sales—all of which process large numbers of transactions. Each of these transactions requires a minimal amount of user think time to process. In these industries, data is frequently collected at the source by the knowledgeable worker. As such, the systems have high requirements for availability, data integrity, performance, concurrent access, growth potential, security, and manageability. Systems implemented in these environments must prove their worth or they will be rejected by an empowered organization. They must be implemented as an integral part of the job process. OLTP has traditionally been the domain of the large mainframe vendors—such as IBM and DEC—and of special-purpose, fault-tolerant processors from vendors such as Tandem and Stratus. The client/server model has the capability to provide all the services required for OLTP at much lower cost than the traditional platforms. All the standard client/server requirements for a GUI—application portability, client/server function partitioning, software distribution, and effective development tools—exist for OLTP applications. The first vendor to deliver a production-quality product in this arena is Cooperative Solutions with its Ellipse product. Prior to Ellipse, OLTP systems required developers to manage the integrity issues of unit-of-work processing, including currency control and transaction rollback. Ellipse provides all the necessary components to build systems with these features. Ellipse currently operates with Windows 3.x, OS/2 clients, and OS/2 servers using the Sybase database engine. Novell is working with Cooperative Solutions to port Ellipse as a Novell NetWare Loadable Module (NLM). It provides a powerful GUI development environment using a template language as shorthand for development. This language provides a solid basis for building an organizational SDE and lends itself well to the incorporation of standard components. As UNIX has matured, it has added many of the features found in other commercial operating systems such as VMS and MVS. There are now several offerings for OLTP with UNIX. IBM is promoting CICS 6000 as a downsizing strategy for CICS MVS. Database services will be provided by a combination of AIX and MVS servers.

With the release of Windows NT (New Technology) in September of 1993, Microsoft staked its unique position with a server operating system. Microsoft’s previous development of OS/2 with IBM did not create the single standard UNIX alternative that was hoped for. NT provides the preemptive multitasking services required for a functional server. It provides excellent support for Windows clients and incorporates the necessary storage protection services required for a reliable server operating system. Its implementation of C2 level security goes well beyond that provided by OS/2 and most UNIX implementations. It will take most of 1994 to get the applications and rugged zing necessary to provide an industrial strength platform for business critical applications. With Microsoft’s prestige and marketing muscle, NT will be installed by many organizations as their server of choice. IBM provides MVS as a platform for large applications. Many of the existing application services that organizations have purchased operate on System 370-compatible hardware running MVS. The standard networking environment for many large organizations—SNA—is a component of MVS. IBM prefers to label proprietary systems today under the umbrella of SAA. The objective of SAA is to provide all services on all IBM platforms in a compatible way—the IBM version of the single-system image. There is a commitment by IBM to provide support for the LAN Server running natively under MVS. This is an attractive option for organizations with large existing investments in MVS applications. The very large data storage capabilities provided by System 370-compatible platforms with MVS make the use of MVS for LAN services attractive to large organizations. MVS provides a powerful database server using DB2 and LU6.2. With broad industry support for LU6.2, requests that include DB2 databases as part of their view can be issued from a client/server application. Products such as Sybase provide high-performance static SERVER APPLICATION support, making this implementation viable for high-performance production applications. Digital Equipment Corporation provides OPENVMS as its server platform of choice. VMS has a long history in the distributed computing arena and includes many of the features necessary to act as a server in the client/server model. DEC was slow to realize the importance of this technology, and only recently did the company enter the arena as a serious vendor. NetWare supports the use of OPENVMS servers for file services. DEC provides its own server interface using a LAN Manager derivative product called Patchworks. Patchworks run native on the VAX and RISC Alpha RXP. This is a particularly attractive configuration because it provides access on the same processor to the application, database, and file services provided by a combination of OPENVMS, NetWare, and LAN Manager. Digital and Microsoft have announced joint agreements to work together to provide a smooth integration of Windows, Windows NT, Patchworks, and OPENVMS. This will greatly facilitate the migration by OPENVMS customers to the client/server model. VAX OPENVMS support for database products such as RDB, Sybase, Ingress, and Oracle enables this platform to execute effectively as a database server for client/server applications. Many organizations have large investments in VAX hardware and DECnet networking. The option to use these as part of client/server applications is attractive as a way to maximize the value of this investment. DECnet provides ideal support for the single-system image model. LAN technology is fundamental to the architecture of DECnet. Many large organizations moving into the client/server world of computing have standardized on DECnet for WAN processing. For example, Kodak selected Digital as its networking company even after selecting IBM as its mainframe outsourcing company.

UNIX is a primary player as a server system in the client/server model. Certainly, the history of UNIX in the distributed computing arena and its open interfaces provide an excellent opportunity for it to be a server of choice. To understand what makes it an open operating system, look at the system’s components. UNIX was conceived in the early 1970s by AT&T employees as an operating environment to provide services to software developers who were discouraged by the incompatibility of new computers and the lack of development tools for application development. The original intention of the UNIX architecture was to define a standard set of services to be provided by the UNIX kernel. These services are used by a shell that provides the command-line interface. Functionality is enhanced through the provision of a library of programs. Applications are built up from the program library and custom code. The power and appeal of UNIX lie in the common definition of the kernel and shell and in the large amount of software that has been built and is available. Applications built around these standards can be ported to many different hardware platforms. The objectives of the original UNIX were very comprehensive and might have been achieved except that the original operating system was developed under the auspices of AT&T. Legal ramifications of the consent decree governing the breakup of the Regional Bell Operating Companies (RBOCs) prevented AT&T from getting into the computer business. As a result, the company had little motivation early on to promote UNIX as a product. To overcome this, and in an attempt to achieve an implementation of UNIX better suited to the needs of developers, the University of California at Berkeley and other institutions developed better varieties of UNIX. As a result, the original objective of a portable platform was compromised. The new products were surely better, but they were not compatible with each other or the original implementation. Through the mid-1980s, many versions of UNIX that had increasing functionality were released. IBM, of course, entered the fray in 1986 with its own UNIX derivative, AIX. Finally, in 1989, an agreement was reached on the basic UNIX kernel, shell functions, and APIs. The computing community is close to consensus on what the UNIX kernel and shell will look like and on the definition of the specific APIs. Figure 4.8 shows the components of the future standard UNIX operating system architecture.

During all of these gyrations, one major UNIX problem has persisted that differentiates it from DOS, Windows NT, and OS/2 in the client/server world. Because the hardware platforms on which UNIX resides come from many manufacturers and are based on many different chip sets, the “off-the-shelf” software that is sold for PCs is not yet available for UNIX. Software is sold and distributed in its executable form, so it must be compiled and linked by the developer for the target platform. This means that organizations wishing to buy UNIX software must buy it for the specific target platform they are using. This also means that when they use many platforms in a distributed client/server application, companies must buy different software versions for each platform.

UNIX is particularly desirable as a server platform for client/server computing because of the large range of platform sizes available and the huge base of application and development software available. Universities are contributing to the UNIX momentum by graduating students who see only UNIX during their student years. Government agencies are insisting on UNIX as the platform for all government projects. The combination of these pressures and technology changes should ensure that UNIX compatibility will be mandatory for server platforms in the last half of this decade. OSF initially developed Motif, a graphical user interface for UNIX, that has become the de facto UNIX GUI standard. The Distributed Computing Environment (DCE) is gaining acceptance as the standard for distributed application development although its Distributed Management Environment has yet to achieve such widespread support. OSF/1, the OSF defined UNIX kernel, has been adopted only by DEC, although most other vendors have made promises to support it. OSF/1 brings the promise of a UNIX micro kernel more suitable to the desktop environment than existing products. The desire for a standard UNIX encourages other organizations. For example, the IEEE tackled the unified UNIX issue by establishing a group to develop a standard portable operating system called POSIX. The objective is to develop an ANSI standard operating system. POSIX isn’t UNIX, but it is UNIX-like. POSIX standards (to which most vendors pledge compliance) exist today. DEC’s OPENVMS operating system, for example, supports published POSIX standards. POSIX at this point, however, does little to promote interoperability and portability because so little of the total standard has been finalized. Simple applications that will run across different POSIX-compliant platforms will be written. However, they will be limited applications because developers will be unable to use any of the rich, non-POSIX features and functions that the vendors offer beyond the basic POSIX-compliant core. X/Open started in Europe and has spread to include most major U.S. computer makers. X/Open is having significant impact in the market because its goal is to establish a standard set of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) that will enable interoperability. These interfaces are published in the X/Open Portability Guide. Applications running on operating systems that comply with these interfaces will communicate with each other and interoperate, even if the underlying operating systems are different. This is the key objective of the client/server model. The COSE announcement by HP, IBM, SCO, Sun, and Univel (Novell/USL) in March 1993 at the Uniforms Conference is the latest attempt to create a common ground between UNIX operating systems. The initial COSE announcement addresses only the user’s desktop environment and graphical user interface; although in time it is expected to go further. COSE is a more pragmatic group attempting to actually “get it done.” Another major difference from previous attempts to create universal UNIX standards is the involvement of SCO and Sun. These two organizations own a substantial share of the UNIX market and have tended to promote proprietary approaches to the desktop interface. SCO provides its Open Desktop environment, and Sun offers Open Look. The commitment to Motif is a significant concession on their part and offers the first real opportunity for complete vendor interoperability and user transparency to platform.

In October of 1993, Novell decided to bestow the rights to the UNIX name to X/Open so that all vendors can develop to the UNIX standards and use the UNIX name for their products. This largely symbolic gesture will eliminate some of the confusion in the marketplace over what software is really UNIX. COSE is looking beyond the desktop to graphics, multimedia, object technology, and systems management. Networking support includes Novell’s NetWare UNIX client networking products, OSF’s DCE, and SunSoft’s Open Network Computing. Novell has agreed to submit the NetWare UNIX client to X/Open for publication as a standard. In the area of graphics, COSE participants plan to support a core set of graphics facilities from the X Consortium, the developer of X Windows. Addressing multimedia, the COSE participants plan to submit two joint specifications in response to the Interactive Multimedia Association’s request for technology. One of those specifications, called Distributed Media Services (DMS), defines a network-independent infrastructure supporting an integrated API and data stream protocol. The other—the Desktop Integrated Media Environment—will define multimedia access and collaboration tools, including at least one basic tool for each data type supported by the DMS infrastructure. The resulting standard will provide users with consistent access to multimedia tools in MultiFinder environments. COSE also addresses object technology, an area targeted by IBM and Sun. The group will support the efforts of the Object Management Group (OMG) and its Common Object Request Broker (CORBA) standard for deploying and using distributed objects. IBM already has a CORBA-compliant object system in beta test for AIX. Sun built an operating system code named spring as a proof of concept in 1992. Sun has a major project underway, called Distributed Objects Everywhere (DOE), that is producing very exciting productivity results. Finally, COSE will focus on the management of distributed file systems, distribution, groups and users, print spooling, software installation licensing, and storage. It is not a coincidence that these vendors are coming together to define a standard UNIX at this time. The COSE effort is a defensive reaction to the release of Microsoft’s Windows NT. With this commitment to a 32-bit desktop and server operating system, Microsoft has taken the wind out of many of the UNIX claims to technical superiority. Despite its numerous advantages as a desktop and server operating system, UNIX never has been widely accepted in the general corporate world that favors DOS/Windows and Novell’s NetWare. A key drawback to UNIX in the corporate arena has been the lack of a single UNIX standard. UNIX has a well established position as the operating system of choice for distributed relational databases from vendors like Informix, Ingress, Oracle, and Sybase. Most of these vendors, however, will port their products to Windows NT as well. Any effort to reduce the problems associated with the multiple UNIX variants will do much to bolster the stature of UNIX as a worthwhile alternative to Windows NT.

Spin this fantasy around in your mind. All the major hardware and software vendors get together and agree to install a black box in their systems that will, in effect, wipe away their technological barriers. This black box will connect a variety of small operating systems, dissimilar hardware platforms, incompatible communications protocols, all sorts of applications and database systems, and even unlike security systems. And the black box will do all this transparently, not only for end users but also for systems managers and applications developers.2 OSF proposes the distributed computing environment (DCE) as this black box. DCE is the most important architecture defined for the client/server model. It provides the bridge between existing investments in applications and new applications based on current technology. Figure 4.10 shows this architecture defined by the OSF. The first product components of DCE were released in the third quarter of 1991. DCE competes directly with Sun’s open network computing (ONC) environment and indirectly with many other network standards. OSF/1 and DCE are almost certain to win this battle because of the massive market presence of the OSF sponsors. IBM has now committed to making its AIX product OSF/1 compatible by early 1994. It will be 1995 before the product is mature and complete enough to be widely used as part of business applications. In the interim, product vendors and systems integrators will use it to build portable products and applications. The general availability of code developed for previous, similar product components will speed the process and enable new development to be modeled on the previous releases. DCE has been described as another layer grouping in the OSI model.3 DCE provides the link between pure communications on the lower layers and end-user applications.

These components become active whenever a local application requests data, services, or processes from somewhere. The OSF says that DCE will make a network of systems from multiple vendors appear as a single stand-alone computer to applications developers, systems administrators, and end users. Thus, the single-system image is attained. Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Presentation Services: Interface Definition Languages (IDLs) and RPCs enable programmers to transfer control and data across a network in a transparent manner that helps to mask the network’s complexity. DCE uses the RPC originally developed by the HP Apollo Network Computing System (NCS), with some enhancements by DEC and IBM. NCS also provides the Network Data Representation (NDR), a virtual data representation. NDR enables data to be exchanged between various vendor products transparently. Conversions (as necessary) will take place with no intervention by the caller. Naming, security, file system, and data type conversions may take place as data is transported between various platforms. Naming: User-oriented names, specifying computers, files, and people should be easily accessible in a distributed environment. These directory services must offer standard appearance and rules for all clients. DCE supports the X.500 directory services standard, adding extensions from DEC’s Domain Name Service (DECdns). The standardized X.500 code is Siemens Nixdorf’s DIR-X X.500 service. Security: Distributed applications and services must identify users, control access to resources, and guard the integrity of all applications. DCE uses the Kerberos authentication service, developed by MIT as part of its Athena networking project and enhanced by Hewlett-Packard. This service is one of the major challenges to making products available quickly, because very few products today are developed with an awareness of this specification. Threads: This terminology represents a method of supporting parallel execution by managing multiple threads of control within a process operating in a distributed environment. Threads enable systems to start up multiple processes and forget about them until they are completed. This is especially important for network servers that may have to handle many requests from many clients at the same time. They must be able to do this without waiting for the previous request to complete. DCE is using DEC’s Concert Multithread Architecture (CMA) implementation. Time Service: A time service synchronizes all system clocks of a distributed environment so that executing applications can depend on equivalent clocking among processes. Consider that many machines operating in many time zones may provide processes as part of a single application solution.

It is essential that they agree on the time in order to manage scheduled events and time-sequenced events. DCE is using a modification of DEC’s Distributed Time Synchronization Service. Distributed File Services: By extending the local file system throughout the network, users gain full access to files on remote configurations. DCE uses Sun’s Network File System (NFS) Version 2 and provides next-generation capabilities with the Andrew File System (AFS), developed at Carnegie-Mellon University and commercialized by Transact Corp. Diskless operations under AFS are supported by development work done by Hewlett-Packard. PC Integration: Integration enables PCs using MS-DOS, Windows NT, and OS/2 to access file and print services outside the MS-DOS environment. DCE uses Microsoft’s LAN Manager/X. Management: Although partly addressed by the previous components, management is so complex in a distributed, heterogeneous configuration that OSF has defined a new architecture: distributed management environment (DME). DME provides a common framework for the management of stand-alone and distributed systems. This framework provides consistent tools and techniques for managing different types of systems and enables vendors to build system management applications that work on a variety of platforms. OSF will base DME on technology from Hewlett-Packard’s Open View product.

SAA is IBM’s distributed environment. SAA was defined by IBM in 1986 as an architecture to integrate all IBM computers and operating systems, including MVS, VM/CMS, OS/400, and OS/2-EE. SAA defines standards for a common user access (CUA) method, common programming interfaces (CPI), and a common communication link (APPC). To support the development of SAA-compliant applications, IBM described SAA frameworks (that somewhat resemble APIs). The first SAA framework is AD/Cycle, the SAA strategy for CASE application development. AD/Cycle is designed to use third-party tools within the IBM SAA hardware and mainframe Repository Manager/MVS data storage facility. Several vendors have been selected by IBM as AD/Cycle partners, namely: Intervolve, Knowledge Ware, Bachman, Synod, Systematic a, and Easel Corp. Several products are already available, including the Easel Workbench toolkit, Bachman DB2, CSP tools, and the Knowledge Ware Repository and MVS tools. Unfortunately, the most important component, the Repository Manager, has not yet reached production quality in its MVS implementation and as yet there are no plans for a client/server implementation. Many original IBM customers involved in evaluating the Repository Manager have returned the product in frustration. Recently, there has been much discussion about the need for a production-quality, object-oriented database management system to support the entity relationship (ER) model underlying the repository. Only this, say some sources, will make implementation and performance practical. A further failing in the SAA strategy is the lack of open systems support. Although certain standards, such as Motif, SERVER APPLICATION, and LU6.2, are identified as part of SAA; the lack of support for AIX has prevented many organizations from adopting SAA. IBM has published all the SAA standards and has licensed various protocols, such as LU6.2. The company has attempted to open up the SAA software development world. IBM’s director of open systems strategy, George Siegel, says that IBM believes in openness through interfaces. Thus, the complete definition of APIs enables other vendors to develop products that interface with IBM products and with each other. Recent announcements, such as support for CICS AIX, point to a gradual movement to include AIX in the SAA platforms. The first SAA application that IBM released, Office Vision, was a disaster. The product consistently missed shipping dates and lacked much of the promised functionality. IBM has largely abandoned the product now and is working closely with Lotus and its workgroup computing initiatives. IBM has consistently defined common database, user interface, and communications standards across all platforms. This certainly provides the opportunity to build SAA-compliant client/server applications.

IBM has clarified System View as its DME product. System View defines APIs to enable interoperability between various vendor products. It is expected to be the vehicle for linking AIX into centralized mainframe sites. IBM has stated that System View is an open structure for integrating OSI, SNA, and TCP/IP networks. At this time, System View is a set of guidelines to help third-party software developers and customers integrate systems and storage management applications, data definitions, and access methods. The guidelines are intended to further support single-system image concepts.

In view of the above, it is a significant fact that The recent introduction of CICS for OS/2, AIX, and OS/400 and the announcement of support for AIX mean that a single transaction-processing platform is defined across the entire range of products. Applications developed under OS/2 can be ported to interoperate between OS/2, OS/400, MVS, and eventually AIX, without modification. COBOL and C are common programming languages for each platform. SERVER APPLICATION is the common data access language in all platforms. The failure of SAA is attributable to the complexity of IBM’s heterogeneous product lines and the desire of many organizations to move away from proprietary to open systems solutions. This acknowledgment piloted IBM to announce its new Open Enterprise plan to replace the old System Application Architecture (SAA) plan with an open network strategy. System View is a key IBM network product linking OS/2, UNIX, and AS/400 operating systems. Traditional Systems Network Architecture (SNA) networking will be replaced by new technologies, such as Advanced Peer-to-Peer Communications (APPC) and Advanced Peer-to-Peer Networking.

Written by: Kh. Atiar Rahman

Counter Part Officer

Financial Management Reform Programme

Cms – When Do You Really Need It?

Marketers today make a strong case for a content management system (CMS), extolling its virtues in no uncertain terms. But it probably makes sense to take a step back and think: does your organization really need an advanced CMS? If your current in-house team is effectively managing your Website, can you justify a CMS investment to your management team? But at the same time, can your existing solution scale quickly enough to handle expected and unexpected growth?

The real issue here is deciding when to stop ad-hoc manual processes and invest in a CMS. And this decision must be based on 3 things: your business goals, the capabilities of your current solution, and the ROI associated with change.

So let’s look at when you should consider a CMS.

Invest in a CMS when:

Your Website looks and reads like a blast from the past

An outdated Website is clearly bad for business. Small Website teams typically comprise of a few HTML and developer experts who present and publish content in the right place with the right design. Hiring more people is not a viable option as work volumes are never consistent and additional costs are hard to justify.

Given a sudden need to scale – like a new branding campaign that mandates style, design, and content changes – delivery timelines become hard to keep. Manual processes will not deliver the desired need for business agility.

Your content information landscape looks like a jungle

Inconsistent categorizing, organizing, and publishing can frustrate business users looking for content. Webmasters may change, but nomenclatures and processes cannot. A clear strategy is thus essential to avoid knowledge silos and mixed-up information architectures.

A CMS can help you:

• Maintain consistency across Website pages

• Control design—and more importantly branding—to the level desired with style sheets, templates, and more

• Assure a consistent, professional experience for visitors, regardless of who is responsible for content

Your organization struggles to put up a simple press release

It is not uncommon to encounter inordinate delays with simple content revisions. Press releases and product updates need to be timely, precise, and deliver value. With the right CMS, your subject matter experts can actively participate in making the Website reflect organizational goals. Without dependency on personnel trained in HTML, you can accelerate Website publishing by giving subject matter experts simple, intuitive tools to easily create, edit and publish content themselves.

Your users constantly complain of missing links

Missing links and Website maintenance struggles are sure signs of the need for a CMS. The right solution can help you maintain essential link integrity, and significantly improve the experience of business users.

Your organization lacks programming and design skills and expertise

If a developer or external expertise is required to correct simple spelling errors or change Website structure, a CMS can surely help. The right solution empowers your non-technical staff to create and modify content as well as design without programming expertise.

Your organization is unable to manage the information explosion

What part of the burgeoning volume of information is actually valuable? How easily is this accessible to users? Serving and managing content served in multiple forms is another challenge–especially in dealing with blogs, Wikis, or Podcasts.

An effective CMS can:

• Manage this from a single point of control

• Quickly identify, tag, compose, and assemble content automatically

• Reduce information duplication, and encourage content reuse

Your organization struggles to ensure quality and freshness of content

Manual systems are seldom effective in ensuring content quality and freshness. A typical manual process involves:

• The marketing/communications team tracking down section owners, and requesting content updates

• Dispatched as a Word document, this content then goes through a long and tedious approval process from various stakeholders

• The content upload team, in dealing with inconsistencies, shifts the workflow back to the content department

It is easy to see how this process can be inefficient and time-consuming.

A CMS can provide complete system auditing and reporting, giving you the ability to manage and track the history of all work done. Every file can be given a full document lifecycle, including check-in, check-out, versioning, rollback, approvals, and scheduling. Intelligent workflow automation ensures that content passes through the appropriate quality gates before publishing.

You can also use the CMS’s configurable workflows to assign tasks to any person, and that escalate in case defined thresholds are crossed. For example, e-mail alerts can be sent to content owners of specific sections on a Website, to ensure timely section updates. Once these rules are established, you can make sure that section owners are more responsive in assuring content quality and freshness.

Conclusion

If your Web presence is experiencing any of the above difficulties, it is safe to say that a CMS solution is a necessity. As with any technology purchase it is important to factor in the total-cost-of-ownership before investing. But like we’ve all heard many times before, the first step is admitting you have a problem.

Get your Cms to Hit the Targets you Want

With more than a thousand Content Management System (CMS) vendors, organizations face tough choices navigating the tricky waters of technology. A CMS solution that is perfect for a large company may be ineffective for an SMB as it has no use for features that are used extensively by a larger enterprise.

Buying a CMS is similar to buying Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions – you need to clearly evaluate your organization’s needs and then map them to make an informed choice. Once you succeed in identifying a CMS solution, how will you ensure that it simplifies your work as promised? What measures will you use to show your leadership team that the CMS will provide good ROI?

Before beginning a CMS implementation, it is extremely important to identify the key business goals that must be achieved. Without this clear vision of the objective, CMS implementations are almost sure to fail. In this context, it is not surprising to find that most CMS implementations often overshoot budgets and timelines, and over their lifetime consume far more time, energy, and resources just to stay functional that you ever imagined.

Organizational goals are diverse – but we can take a look at some common business objectives that must figure on your checklist before a CMS implementation.

Goal #1: Improve Business Responsiveness

In an intensely competitive world, organizations must be able to quickly update their Websites as soon as a new product or service is launched. In this scenario, organizations need the capability to accelerate content publishing, and provide subject matter experts (SMEs) with tools that are simple to use. Content specialists must be able to focus more on creating content – and not let content control them.

For example, consider the marketing arm of a technology services firm that has just found out from its sales team that –

1. there is a big SAP implementation services contract coming up

2. the company awarding the contract is checking vendor Websites to evaluate capabilities before drawing up a shortlist

In normal circumstances, the marketing team would have hurriedly asked the developers to put up a few links to SAP whitepapers (usually hidden inside the site) on the home page. If the same company had a Web content management system, the SMEs could have created a microsite with content tailored to showcase SAP capabilities. The ease of uploading content will also allow the same team to put up more recently created whitepapers on this microsite. In situations like this where time is of the essence, a user friendly CMS is invaluable.

Similarly, if SMEs feel that a particular content – such as a whitepaper on the Website – must capture email addresses of the people who download it, they can easily create a form using the content management tool, and ensure collection of this data. The email addresses can then become part of a lead generation exercise, used by the organization to sell specific services to users according to the type of whitepaper downloaded. Further, if a marketing person feels the need to run a campaign showcasing RFID capabilities, he can easily create a microsite within the main Website, and provide an in-depth overview of his company’s capabilities. It is clear, therefore, that ease of use in this scenario can actually drive business efficiencies and opportunities.

Goal# 2: Improve Branding

An organization’s image in the marketplace is a combination of multiple factors, out of which–the Website–is clearly one of the most influential. A simple mistake such as a non-existent link on a company Website can mean a missed business opportunity. The chosen Website CMS must enable the organization to maintain link integrity – thereby significantly reducing the chance of users reporting a missing link.

The CMS must also give the organization the capability to maintain consistency across all pages of its Website (with style sheets, templates, etc.) so that branding and design are controlled to the level desired, regardless of who is responsible for the actual content.

As a result, visitors can have a consistent and professional experience on a Website managed through an effective CMS.

Goal # 3: Improve Quality of Information

The CMS must enhance the organization’s ability to improve the quality of information by giving it the capability to deliver content that is updated, comprehensive and validated by SMEs. A Website CMS must have intelligent workflow automation, and ensure that content passes through appropriate quality gates before being published. For instance, ensuring that files can be given a full document lifecycle, including check-in, check-out, versioning, rollback, approvals, and scheduling.

The CMS should support configurable workflows that enable organizations to assign tasks to any person, and escalate in case defined thresholds are crossed. For example, the CMS must automatically send email alerts to content owners of specific sections on a Website, if these sections are not updated after a specific time period.

Goal # 4: Reuse content

In a digital world where content can be creatively used in a variety of forms such as whitepapers, podcasts or articles, effectively managing and using this content is critical for competitive advantage. However, the same content present in multiple mediums, across different business units can create silos of unmanageable information – and increase maintenance costs.

Organizations must encourage content reuse by reducing duplicate content and storing each kernel of content only once. An efficient CMS can help find and tag content assets from a single point of control. This centralized control medium also means that the organization can effectively measure the success of its various online marketing initiatives.

Goal # 5: Take Advantage of New Communication Media

The Web 2.0 audience demands an interface that is functionally rich, easy to use, and publishes content quickly. You would not want to frustrate an audience that is used to sites such as Flickr or Blogger. Adding complex content posting rules on your company’s blog will only alienate your would-be listeners. Further, different forms of metadata such as ‘rating’ or ‘tagging’ by voters introduce new layers of complexity in managing content.

Additional challenges in content management arise due to multiple device types. Organizations that follow a manual content updating style, or have a CMS that tightly binds content and structure, will be at a distinct disadvantage when publishing content to different formats. Hence, organizations must look to a CMS that enables and facilitates easy creation of content that caters to multiple mediums and audiences from a single source, for example; publishing of digital assets like audio and video files, and simplify the process of publishing the XML associated with the Podcast RSS feed.

Goal # 6: Improve Productivity

To improve productivity of key content specialists or SMEs, choose a CMS that allows even non-technical users to contribute and update content on a Website from anywhere, using just an Internet connection. Choose a CMS that encourages SMEs to experiment with the presentation of their content. For instance, enforcing design with, navigation schemes, and the presentation of content through standardized presentation templates. These templates ensure that the content presentation, titling and linking are arranged in a way that enables even non-technical staff to easily update content.

Productivity can also be enhanced by giving SMEs the ability to search and quickly identify digital assets that are present in the organization. Content owners can thus save valuable time in creating content that is already present.

Conclusion

Like sails driving a ship, goals are vital for content management. Using the right metrics can add further control and boost effectiveness. For example, ‘business responsiveness’ can be measured by the organization’s ability to quickly update its Website as soon as new products or services are launched. Other metrics used to gauge success of CMS goals can include Web usage statistics, turnaround time for publishing new material or implementing changes, customer satisfaction, development time for new pages, and cost of training. Having a clear vision of what the CMS has to achieve can turn the direction of change in an organization’s favor, and make it better equipped to maximize CMS potential.

Forgotten my homework at home is no more an excuse in America’s classrooms

Nature of business : BuildingStoreOnline.com, used its buying power to bring America’s top brands straight from the factories to the customers!

“With decades of experience behind us, our seasoned group of designers, manufacturers, transportation specialists and contractors is passionate about one thing; providing you, the consumer, with the best metal buildings at the guaranteed lowest prices.” said Mr Fraser, The Client of this project, in an telephonic conversation with MiracleStudios.

Mr Fraser added further “By removing retail locations from the purchasing process as well the associated high costs of inventory and other overhead, we can ship your complete building or metal direct to you. All at incredible savings and our industry leading satisfaction guarantee.”

The solution:

The creative geeks at Miracle Studios brainstormed the fine elements of this project. The main objective of this discussion was to create a website that can do full justice with the overwhelming popularity that the brand name of “Building Store Ltd” enjoys in United States.

Obviously, the work has to be professional and up to the task with :

a) A creative logo

b) Subtle flash effects

c) Engaging content writing

d) Integrating CMS

Technology Used

Flash, XML, CMS & Javascript.

Finally , Fraser got his brand new identity with a new website launched on 9 July , 2008

The Results:

Mind blowing! Fraser was so impressed with his new website, he was expressing his feeling that the guys at Miracle Studios had hit the “bulls eye” with full perfection, the website has been successful carrying the real life image of :the client business” on to the web.

Kudos to MiracleStudios web designing team, which has been trained to study the project in greater depth.

Atlast my building store has got a strong foundation on internet. See the website of Building Store

Courtesy : Miracle Studios : Web Design Company

With Sumtotal, Pearson Government Solutions Supports U.s. Department of Health and Human Services

SumTotal® Systems, Inc. (Nasdaq: SUMT), the largest provider of talent, learning and business performance technologies and services, said today that Arlington, Va.-based Pearson Government Solutions has deployed SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1 software to manage training for 3,000 customer service representatives (CSRs) who staff the 1-800-MEDICARE Helpline. Pearson Government Solutions manages the nationwide telephone line on behalf of the Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to help beneficiaries with their questions about Medicare and their Medicare health plans.

Specifically, Pearson uses SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.1 to deliver online training to CSRs who field calls on topics such as Medicare’s prescription drug coverage plan. SumTotal’s software will also assess how well the CSRs have mastered instruction on a particular topic, as CSRs must meet a high level of proficiency on a weekly basis across a number of subject areas. With SumTotal’s talent-management software, Pearson can assess each CSR’s performance.

“Measuring our representatives’ performance is critical to success, but we also want to capture institutional knowledge and disseminate that quickly to our customer service representatives,” said Mike Bowers, senior vice president and general manager of Pearson Government Solutions’ Health division. “SumTotal’s TotalCollaboration product gives us an easy way to capture knowledge from our company experts, and transfer this knowledge for future reference.”

TotalCollaboration enables Pearson’s CSRs to get answers from company experts via threaded discussions and instant messaging. According to Bowers, the system from SumTotal will boost the 1-800-MEDICARE Helpline staff’s productivity and knowledge.

“Pearson has a reputation for delivering superior service to federal government agencies,” said Don Fowler, chief executive of SumTotal. “We’re pleased that they have chosen to work with SumTotal’s Government Solutions group to serve not only the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, but also the American public.”

For more information about SumTotal’s products and services, visit www.sumtotalsystems.com.

GPS Tracking and Fleet Managers: Working Together to Uphold the Law

The health and safety of employees is a priority in every business and the Corporate Manslaughter Act has highlighted this even more. Working in an office environment may well be fraught with its own perils such as paper cuts and minor burns from a hot drink. The dangers associated with fleet management on the other hand are much more serious and therefore at the forefront of any fleet managers mind.

Every day there are reports of road traffic accidents which end in either death or serious injury. With more and more vehicles being put on to the roads every year, it is with little wonder that the health and safety of your drivers and the fear of Corporate Manslaughter may give you serious cause for concern.

Of course, there are steps you can take in order to minimise the risk of a Corporate Manslaughter claim. These involve taking both your drivers and the public’s health and safety seriously and taking any necessary steps to try to avoid these incidents. So, what steps can we take to help avoid such accidents and Corporate Manslaughter?

It is important to understand the working hours of your drivers. This will help to ensure that you know exactly what hours every driver is supposed to do therefore helping to eliminate the possibility of going over their agreed limit, which could potentially put both you and them at risk.

Monitoring various aspects of your vehicle operators driving style can be a good idea. Vehicle tracking is an advanced GPS tracking package that allows you to do just this by recording the rate of acceleration and braking not to mention the vehicle speed. It can help you to build a safety profile of each driver and allows fleet managers to understand who is driving well and who requires some training.

Vehicle tracking is a good way to help achieve this as it can provide detailed records of each individual driver’s movements and helps paint an accurate picture of their driving style. These records can be then kept and in the event of an accident, referred to if the need arises. These records can then be used as part of an investigation process to fully ensure that best practices are met.

Fleet management gives you the opportunity to test any new driver’s skills and may be a good idea to ensure that they are competent behind the wheel. Spot checks for all drivers are a good idea too. Using vehicle tracking offers you a way to keep a check of the mileage of each vehicle in your fleet.

You can then set service schedules or even incorporate vehicle diagnostics if necessary that links to the vehicle’s computer to allow you to manage the condition and upkeep of each vehicle. Any HR policies and documents should state clearly how important your company takes the health and safety of its employees and the seriousness an accident can cause.

Full training can then be offered to your drivers focusing on how to drive safely and accident avoidance, not to mention how to try to keep control of the vehicle in the event of an accident. A code of practice can be put together that drivers can follow. From this, you can then regularly test their knowledge on these practices.

You should make sure that you check all your employees driving licenses on a regular basis in order to ascertain whether they have incurred any penalty points or have been disqualified from driving. However unlikely, it is better to check to ensure your company’s safety. 

Utilising all these steps can help to ensure that your company and the general public’s safety is upheld. After all, safety is paramount and therefore, putting procedures in place to help achieve this can only be beneficial. Using GPS tracking as part of your fleet management lets you have a better control over your drivers and their vehicles to minimise the chance of an accident. Taking control of your fleet can then help to avoid corporate manslaughter.

GPS Tracking Systems
Vehicle Tracking

CMS SupaTrak,

The Alpha Centre,

Cheney Manor,

Swindon,

SN2 2QJ

Tel: +44 (0) 0844 477 4870

Fax: +44 (0) 1793 487489

Email: sales@supatrak.com

Fastcorp appoint The Vending Corporation as Master Distributor for Europe.

The Vending Corporation has been providing Fastcorp frozen vendors such as the F-631 and F-820 to operators in the U.K. for many years. The Z400 vendor is a new version of the F-820 – a vendor that has been specified by major ice cream manufacturers worldwide. The new machine benefits from reduced dimensions, improved appearance and easier loading access, whilst maintaining the same capacity and selections of the previous F-820 model.

The Z400 will now be available for the first time to operators and frozen food manufacturers in Europe from The Vending Corporation, with technical assistance, operator training and spare parts also provided by the company.

The Vending Corporation is already Master Distributor throughout Europe of Dixie-Narco vendors, CMS manufactured Polyvend GPL vendors and the ccini range of table top coffee and hot beverage machines.

The Vending Corporation has been providing Fastcorp frozen vendors such as the F-631 and F-820 to operators in the U.K. for many years. The Z400 vendor is a new version of the F-820 – a vendor that has been specified by major ice cream manufacturers worldwide. The new machine benefits from reduced dimensions, improved appearance and easier loading access, whilst maintaining the same capacity and selections of the previous F-820 model.

The Z400 will now be available for the first time to operators and frozen food manufacturers in Europe from The Vending Corporation, with technical assistance, operator training and spare parts also provided by the company.

The Vending Corporation is already Master Distributor throughout Europe of Dixie-Narco vendors, CMS manufactured Polyvend GPL vendors and the ccini range of table top coffee and hot beverage machines.

5 Tips for Clinical Laboratory Directors and Their Respective Quality Systems

A clinical quality system under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) relies heavily on the influence of laboratory directors. In fact, laboratory directors are ultimately and personally responsible for many aspects of a clinical laboratory’s quality system. This article offers tips for clinical laboratory directors and their respective quality systems:

Tip #1: Continued CLIA Education

A clinical director has primary and at times absolute responsibility for quality systems associated with moderately complex, highly complex or moderately and highly complex laboratory environments. He or she also has primary responsibility for gaining and maintaining continued compliance with CLIA regulations which often acts as a mold for clinical laboratory quality systems. To ensure that a clinical laboratory quality system remains compliant with the “CLIA mold” laboratory directors should remain thoroughly educated regarding CLIA regulations. Related courses are available for both types of directors and should be taken from time to time for educative purposes.

Refer to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ website for more information.

Tip #2: Take Employee Training Seriously

Under the CLIA regulations, documentation (i.e. policies and procedures) outlining written monitoring methods for determining employee competency and events or situations which may require further training and education is the responsibility of a clinical laboratory director. Training, though often complex, (especially in an environment with continuous needs for continued education) should be thoroughly documented and reviewed for information that could prevent inappropriate handling of laboratory testing. Although, careful and continuous training may mean more money upfront, in the long run, additional training pays off.

Web-based training solutions are also valuable tools as they electronically streamline the training process, make training reports and escalations easy to automate. A web-based training solution may potentially be integrated with other quality related solutions such as document control, deviations identification, change control and CAPA software options.

Tip #3: Take Customer Complaints Management Seriously

For a clinical laboratory quality system, customer complaints can provide a foundation for powerful change. In fact, CLIA regulations mandate that all customer complaints received by a clinical laboratory must be systematically recorded and effectively addressed when necessary. For clinical laboratory directors integrated software solutions can help to streamline and effectively automated the customer complaints process. For instance, a certain type of customer complaint iterated repeatedly may result in a CAPA investigation, which in turn becomes a change control order which in turn results in a series of training tasks. Laboratory directors should look for document control, customer complaints management, CAPA, change control and training solutions that can be easily implemented and integrated for best quality system results. Such a system can save laboratory directors and employees hundreds (if not thousands) of annual hours.

Tip #4: Delegate Applicable Responsibilities

Under CLIA regulations, clinical laboratory directors must accept responsibility for a variety of directive tasks associated with the management of a clinical laboratory quality system. However, some responsibilities may be delegated from time to time and should be delegated to ease the directive load. Some of the tasks that may be delegated to a clinical consultant should be written prior to delegation and are listed as follows:

• Performance of tests, AND

• Interpretation of test results

Delegation may also result in tasks assigned to a technical supervisor (over high complexity duties) or a technical consultant (over moderate complexity duties) consultant. Some of these tasks are listed as follows:

• Selection of Methodology for Testing

• Laboratory Enrollment in a PT (proficiency testing) program that is approved by the CMS, AND

• Other duties associated with PT assignments, samples or results

Tip #5: Consider a Coordinated Quality System

Many laboratory directors consider their quality systems to be coordinated but there are often extensive gaps during the transfer of information from one quality procedure to another (i.e. from customer complaints to a CAPA investigation) and laboratory documentation when controlled manually (i.e. paper-based) often results in lost, delayed, incomplete or difficult-to-find laboratory documentation slowing the entire quality system. Laboratory directors should consider automating document control and quality related processes for increased coordination and connection between quality processes, as well as decreased delays for product-to-market and testing operations.

My Review of MME3

This article explains a few things about marketing, and if you’re interested, then this is worth reading, because you can never tell what you don’t know.

Hopefully the information presented so far has been applicable. You might also want to consider the following:

After a late late night (May 21st) setting up this site, I logged into my back-end of MME2 this morning and noticed right away the notification of MME3 is now available to those fortunate enough to be on the back end of this. The MME3 is expected to break all records and unlike his predecessors this one is being treated as the final of the MarketingMainEvents. The core product of MME3 is of course the CMS infusion software that promises to be a leading product for Internet Marketers. So much promotion has been made so far to the CMS infusion software that it seems MME3 IS the software. (Note: MME3 is only running for a maximum 7 days)It’s the same software that controls the original MME1 site which generated $176,000.

Marketing

Marketing Main Event 3“Are you looking for an honest review from someone. Marketing Main Event III centers around a brand new, exclusive product that’s been in production for over three years now, and took more than six figures out of both Simon and Jeremy’s pockets to develop. Receive daily Internet Marketing news updates in your email. 11 years ago, he cut his teeth working in the fast-paced world of business to business software start-ups and slowly morphed himself from a sales & marketing champ into an online software empire builder. He has since used his marketing and technical prowess to launch a virtual seminar empire — hosting dozens of ebinars starting in late 2002 — back when most people didn’t have a clue what a “webinar” was. There’s also the Marketing MasterMind Series, where Jeremy and Simon interviewed the top people in their field and grilled them.

Mme3

MME3 members are going to get the most powerful thing we could think of. MME3 has the potential to change Internet marketing, as we know it.

Software

Jason Potash is an accomplished author, software developer, and “big idea” marketer. 11 years ago, he cut his teeth working in the fast-paced world of business to business software start-ups and slowly morphed himself from a sales & marketing champ into an online software empire builder. He first got started online writing a simple ezine newsletter and distributing his articles, which created a need for his first “solo” software venture, EzineAnnouncer. We’ve seen some powerful software releases over the years but this is,and to quote Simon Hodgkinson, ‘The Stuff That Dreams Are Made Of -CMSInfusion Technology has the power to make Millionaires out of average Joe marketers. The core product of MME3 is of course the CMS infusion software that promises to be a leading product for Internet Marketers. So much promotion has been made so far to the CMS infusion software that it seems MME3 IS the software. One of the main products is a training program called “Power Membership Marketing” that has 10 modules of pure training in subjects like:- Inspirational Case Studies- Building Your Brand- Traffic Generation Strategies- Advanced Business Strategies- And Much More, just wait to read the sales letter In the meantime you can sign up with the early notification list and watch a video about the CMS software here:http://www. 2 days ago Your Business Just Got Drop Dead Easy To Manage save this. The excitement is growing over the soon to be released cms software called CMS Infusion. If you are looking for a tool and system to manage your business, you will be amazed at what CMS Infusion will do for you, cmsinfusion, cmssoftware, marketingmainevnet3, and mme3.

Internet

The core product of MME3 is of course the CMS infusion software that promises to be a leading product for Internet Marketers. 4 days ago, finally a specific business and marketing driven CMS enters the marketplace. Marketing Main Event 3 Info. Save this This highly configurable web marketing software called cms infusion has been shaped during a three year development period by marketing pioneers Jeremy Gislason and Simon Hodgkinson, 2 ‘household names’ in the Internet Marketing community over the last few years to cms, cmsinfusion, cmssoftware, mme3, and internetmarketing. This is your opportunity to fully understand the package before the June 5th launch to cms, cmsinfusion, marketingmainevent3, internetmarketers mme3. The main component is CMS Infusion and it is a sophisticated but very easy to use Content Management system that will give your business a serious competitive edge to cmsinfusion mme3 internetmarketers. It is a total turnkey Internet system that anyone having an Online business will need. This is indeed a monster of a package and the best that you can get on the Internet.

As an MME2 member I was blown away by what I received but MME3 is taking it to a whole new level. The system you’ll get to own outright as a member of MME3 is nothing short of ** AMAZING. I am as certain as I can be that the core product of MME3 is going to substantially change the way that I market online. Because, even if you ultimately decide that MME3 isn’t for you, you’re going to get a host of excellent freebies just for being on this list.

This article’s coverage of the information is as complete as it can be today. But you should always leave open the possibility that future research could uncover new facts.

Richard Fowler

http://www.richardlfowlermarketingonline.com

http://tinyurl.com/2goc9d

Empower your Corporate Web Site With Bitrix Site Manager Cms

In a typical Web setup, simply adding a new page or category leads to manual, time-consuming re-linking of the entire site structure. Analyzing which channels bring the most visitors who ultimately become paying customers takes a great deal of time of a high-tech employee. When your company’s Web site grows to a certain size, or the number of visitors reaches levels that are too high to analyze with a free system that comes with your current Web setup, one almost inevitably starts thinking about automating things.

The solution is to use a content management system (also known as a CMS.) It’s practically the only way to go if you want to get full control over a complex Web site and its visitors. Setting up a modern CMS, such as Bitrix Site Manager, is an easy and intuitive process.

Choosing the right CMS, though, is a completely different matter. Modern programs have so many features that it gets hard not to drown in the huge multi-page listings that just name the features, let alone describe them. It’s easy to become lost in the technical jargon and pay more for features one might not even need right away.

Recognizing the complexity and responsibility that comes with such a decision, Bitrix makes the process of choosing the right CMS much easier by offering an easy upgrade path among all five editions of its renowned CMS system, the Bitrix Site Manager.

With Bitrix Site Manager, one can start small with the Start Edition. When the business outgrows basic needs, a seamless upgrade can empower the Web site with Standard, Professional, Small Business, or Enterprise editions, depending on the complexity of your Web site and your company’s need for e-commerce and interactive features such as customer surveys, blogs or forums.

Today’s content management systems are evolving rapidly, making use of modern technologies to further empower and simplify the process of managing a Web site’s content. When selecting a CMS, it’s very important to choose a vendor that updates their CMS on a regular basis. Bitrix developed the unique SiteUpdate Technology that greatly simplifies the process of downloading and installing new and updated modules. Updating is now a seamless and transparent process that does not interrupt the work of the company’s Web sites.

Recently, as an update to the Site Manager system, Bitrix released a new e-Learning module that enables users of certain editions to create online training courses that can also be used for testing and certifying specialists. Visitors to an e-Learning empowered Web site can take a course, verify their knowledge by passing self-tests, then take an exam and receive a certificate. For each user, the system maintains a grade book.

A comprehensive comparison between the different editions of Bitrix Site Manager is located at: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/editions/comparison.php

Bitrix, Inc. fully stands behind its products and offers a free, fully functional, time-limited trial download at: http://www.bitrixsoft.com/download/. Try Bitrix Site Manager, and you’ll have no need to look any further!

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