LookSmart
LookSmart owns an internet directory, Wisenut search engine, experimental Grub distributed web-crawling project, FindArticles premium content search and NetNanny desktop parental controls software.
LookSmart was founded by Australian husband and wife Evan Thornley and Tracey Ellery in 1995. They both served as senior executives of Looksmart, but are no longer executives or on the Board of Directors of the company.
While LookSmart was historically a "directory" of websites, relying on both editorial staff and the Zeal community directory, this ended with the closure of Zeal in 2006.
.
ادامه مطلب ...Distributed web crawling
Distributed web crawling is a distributed computing technique whereby Internet search engines employ many computers to index the Internet via web crawling. The idea is to spread out the required resources of computation and bandwidth to many computers and networks
.
Contents[hide] |
Implementations
As of 2003 most modern commercial search engines use this technique. Google uses thousands of individual computers in multiple locations to crawl the Web.
Newer projects are attempting to use a less structured, more ad-hoc form of collaboration by enlisting volunteers to join the effort using, in many cases, their home or personal computers. LookSmart is the largest search engine to use this technique, which powers its Grub distributed web-crawling project.
This solution uses computers that are connected to the Internet to crawl Internet addresses in the background. Upon downloading crawled web pages, they are compressed and sent back together with a status flag (e.g. changed, new, down, redirected) to the powerful central servers. The servers, which manage a large database, send out new URLs to clients for testing.
It appears that many people (including founding members) behind Grub left the project. The side effect of that is that bugs aren't being fixed and even after 4 years the project doesn't give the option for searching among crawled results.
Draw-backs
According to the Nutch, an open-source search engine FAQ, the savings in bandwidth by distributed web crawling are not significant, since "A successful search engine requires more bandwidth to upload query result pages than its crawler needs to download pages...".
Web crawler
Web crawler (also known as a Web spider or Web robot) is a program or automated script which browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. Other less frequently used names for Web crawlers are ants, automatic indexers, bots, and worms (Kobayashi and Takeda, 2000).
This process is called Web crawling or spidering. Many legitimate sites, in particular search engines, use spidering as a means of providing up-to-date data. Web crawlers are mainly used to create a copy of all the visited pages for later processing by a search engine, that will index the downloaded pages to provide fast searches. Crawlers can also be used for automating maintenance tasks on a Web site, such as checking links or validating HTML code. Also, crawlers can be used to gather specific types of information from Web pages, such as harvesting e-mail addresses (usually for spam).
A Web crawler is one type of bot, or software agent. In general, it starts with a list of URLs to visit, called the seeds. As the crawler visits these URLs, it identifies all the hyperlinks in the page and adds them to the list of URLs to visit, called the crawl frontier. URLs from the frontier are recursively visited according to a set of policies.
Contents[hide] |
ادامه مطلب ...
Deep web
The deep web (or invisible web or hidden web) is the name given to pages on the World Wide Web that are not part of the surface web that is indexed by common search engines. It consists of pages which are not linked to by other pages (e.g., dynamic pages which are returned in response to a submitted query). The deep web also includes sites that require registration or otherwise limit access to their pages (e.g., using the Robots Exclusion Standard), prohibiting search engines from browsing them and creating cached copies. Pages that are only accessible through links produced by JavaScript and Flash also often reside in the deep web since most search engines are unable to properly follow these links.
.
ادامه مطلب ...Digital library
A digital library is a library in which a significant proportion of the resources are available in machine-readable format (as opposed to print or microform), accessible by means of computers. The digital content may be locally held or accessed remotely via computer networks. In libraries, the process of digitization began with the catalog, moved to periodical indexes and abstracting services, then to periodicals and large reference works, and finally to book publishing. Some of the largest digital libraries are purely digital having few if any physical holdings
Types of Digital Libraries
The term Digital Library is diffuse enough to be applicable to a wide range of digital entities. Divisions can be made between libraries that have some physical presence where patrons are able to access physical holdings as well as digital holdings and libraries where collections are almost completely digital. Project Gutenberg, ibiblio, International Children's Digitial Library and the Internet Archive can serve as examples of this later case.
.
ادامه مطلب ...WebMethods makes Infravio its second recent SOA buy
Business integration suite vendor WebMethods Inc. is on the acquisition trail again, this time looking to pick up expertise in SOA (service-oriented architecture) governance through the planned purchase of Infravio Inc.
WebMethods announced Monday that it has reached a definitive agreement to buy Infravio for about US$38 million in cash and expects the deal to close later this month. Infravio is the vendor's second SOA-focused acquisition in recent weeks. Last month, BOSTON (09/11/2006) - WebMethods purchased most of the assets of semantic metadata management technology company Cerebra for an undisclosed sum.
As the SOA market continues to consolidate, larger players are busily picking off smaller firms, especially those with particular areas of focus, be they around technologies or specific industries.
Infravio's registry, repository and governance products help companies enforce policies and practices to better control the design, development and deployment of their SOA projects.
WebMethods plans to integrate Infravio's offerings into future versions of its Fabric SOA suite by the fourth quarter of this year. The Fabric suite brings together tools to help users improve the management of their business processes within an SOA framework and gain a better understanding of how their existing IT assets, including Web services, function and interoperate.
WebMethods plans to continue to sell and support stand-alone versions of Infravio's products both before and after the completion of the acquisition. Infravio customers include Lockheed Martin Corp., Providence Health System and Sprint Nextel Corp.
Infravio's software will help improve and add to WebMethods' capabilities in a number of areas including automatic content validation, service-level agreement management, security enforcement and versioning and impact analysis.
Established in 1999, privately-held Infravio employs around 65 staff, 50 of whom are developers in its offshore unit in Chennai, India.
Solutions for IT Software Management
IT departments are under tremendous pressure to do more with less. While budgets are being squeezed, end-user demand for software continues to grow. IT departments are forced to find ways to reduce not only software licensing and management costs, but also IT administration and operational expenses – all while ensuring end users can still access the reliable applications they need, when they need them.
Strategies IT uses to achieve these IT management goals are referred to as Software Value Management (SVM). Macrovision is the world leader in SVM – our integrated FLEXnet solutions enable software publishers and their enterprise customers to maximize the value of their software.
Packaging & Preparing Software
Deploying applications, updates, and patches is one of the most common functions of every enterprise IT department. But if you don’t properly prepare these software packages for deployment, you risk bad packages crashing critical applications, driving up IT support costs, and angering end users.
Macrovision’s FLEXnet AdminStudio solutions provide enterprise IT with the automated tools needed to package and prepare reliable software for error-free deployment. They are part of the FLEXnet family of Software Value Management solutions, an integrated suite of applications that help software publishers and their enterprise customers maximize the value of their software
FLEXnet AdminStudio
FLEXnet AdminStudio provides IT with the most advanced solution for quickly preparing reliable software packages for enterprise use. It combines automated software packaging technology with centralized process management tools to ensure the packages you deploy install successfully and behave reliably.
Deploying applications, updates, and patches is one of the most common functions of every enterprise IT department. But if you don’t properly prepare these software packages for deployment, you risk bad packages crashing critical applications, driving up IT support costs, and angering end users.
FLEXnet AdminStudio provides enterprise IT departments with the most advanced solution for quickly preparing reliable MSI packages and patches for problem-free deployment.
Only FLEXnet AdminStudio combines powerful software packaging technology with centralized process management tools to speed you through the packaging process.
Product Benefits
-
Reduce your organization’s application management costs
-
Improve the reliability and availability of your applications
-
Increase IT productivity and collaboration across your organization
-
Help eliminate expensive and embarrassing deployment disasters
-
Make predeployment patch testing far more efficient and manageable
Feature Highlights
-
ENHANCED! Speed packages through a proven, standardized MSI packaging process with intelligent, automated tools
-
ENHANCED! Centrally manage your environment and the packaging process with Web-based, enterprise-class tools
-
ENHANCED! Convert any application, even InstallScript MSIs, to reliable MSI packages
-
ENHANCED! Customize MSI packages to meet the needs of any user group
-
ENHANCED! Identify and eliminate software conflicts before deploying applications and patches
-
Run predeployment QA tests to ensure the reliability of new applications
-
Hand off deploy-ready packages to any deployment system, including SMS, ZENworks®, LANDesk®, Tivoli®, and ManageSoft®
-
Inject software packages with license tracking technology to monitor their usage.
. -
FLEXnet AdminStudio Workflow Manager
FLEXnet AdminStudio Workflow Manager is an end-to-end Web-based application management system that gives enterprises total control over the software packaging process. It connects IT Management, software packagers, and application owners together to standardize and streamline packaging across the organization.
Enterprise IT departments are constantly preparing applications, updates, and patches for deployment. But the deployment preparation process – known as software packaging – is complex and difficult to coordinate. If managed poorly, expensive problems occur, including overloaded packagers, stalled repackaging projects, and unreliable package deployments that crash desktops.
FLEXnet AdminStudio Workflow Manager is an end-to-end Web-based application management system that gives IT Management total control over the software packaging process.
Workflow Manager connects IT Management, software packagers, and application owners together to standardize and streamline the packaging process, which includes predeployment MSI repackaging, customization, and testing.
Product Benefits
-
Significantly reduce your software packaging and desktop management costs
-
Improve application reliability and availability throughout the enterprise
-
Maximize IT productivity and reduce the time needed to deploy packages
-
Standardize your software packaging process across your organization
-
Improve enterprise-wide satisfaction with IT
Feature Highlights
-
Centrally track and manage the entire software packaging process
-
ENHANCED! Track and manage SLAs to ensure compliance
-
Give application owners an easy way to submit complete application requests to IT
-
Enable IT Management to assign requests to packagers and monitor their progress
-
Provide packagers with a linear, easy-to-follow workflow process
-
Automatically route packages on to the next process step after tasks are completed
-
Generate detailed reports from extensive application data captured by Workflow Manager
Deploying Software
Software deployment solutions like Microsoft’s SMS and Novell’s ZENworks can reduce an enterprise’s TCO while increasing IT’s productivity – but only if the software being deployed is properly configured.
To simplify the rollout of third-party and internally built applications, many enterprises rely on software deployment solutions like SMS, ZENworks®, LANDesk®, and Tivoli®. But if the software applications being deployed aren't properly configured for distribution, they can install incorrectly, disrupt other important applications, and cost enterprises dearly in lost productivity and help desk expenses.
Macrovision's FLEXnet AdminStudio and SolutionArchitect provide IT teams and enterprise application developers with the automated tools needed to package and configure third-party and internally built software applications for problem-free deployment. They are part of the FLEXnet family of Software Value Management solutions, an integrated suite of applications that help software publishers and their enterprise customers maximize the value of their software.
Optimizing Software License Utilization
Centrally managing your organization's license usage enables you to reduce software spending, optimize license renewals, simplify license administration, and ensure end users have access to the licenses they need.
According to a recent study by IDC, 67% of companies do not track software usage. Without accurate software usage data, organizations routinely overspend and buy licenses they don’t use, or underspend and deny end users access to the software they need. They also waste money renewing licenses that never get used.
Macrovision’s FLEXnet Manager enables organizations to centrally track and manage their licenses, so they can provide end users with the licenses they need without wasting money on unnecessary software. FLEXnet Manager is part of the FLEXnet family of Software Value Management solutions, an integrated suite of applications that help software publishers and their enterprise customers maximize the value of their software.
Maintaining Software
Many enterprises rely on internally built applications to conduct business. But these homegrown programs often require frequent updates and patches, making them difficult for IT to update – unless you have the right update delivery solution.
To stay productive, many enterprises rely on applications built by their own software developers. However, these homegrown programs are often the most difficult for IT to manage, especially those that require frequent updating and patching.
Macrovision's FLEXnet Connect and FLEXnet AdminStudio make it easy for IT to maintain the reliability and performance of their homegrown applications. With Macrovision's update and patch management solutions, IT has an easy way to receive, test, and electronically distribute the updates and patches created by their application developers.
FLEXnet Connect and FLEXnet AdminStudio are part of the FLEXnet family of Software Value Management solutions, an integrated suite of applications that help software publishers and their enterprise customers maximize the value of their software
Information Technology Infrastructure Library
The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a framework of best practices approaches intended to facilitate the delivery of high quality information technology (IT) services. ITIL outlines an extensive set of management procedures that are intended to support businesses in achieving both quality and value for money in IT operations. These procedures are supplier independent and have been developed to provide guidance across the breadth of IT infrastructure, development, and operations.
Although developed during the 1980's, ITIL was not widely adopted until the mid 1990's. This wider adoption and awareness has led to a number of standards, including ISO/IEC 20000 which is an international standard covering the IT Service Management elements of ITIL. ITIL is often considered alongside other best practice frameworks such as the Information Services Procurement Library (ISPL), the Application Services Library (ASL), Dynamic Systems Development Method (DSDM), the Capability Maturity Model (CMM/CMMI), and is often linked with IT governance through Control Objectives for Information and related Technology (COBIT).
IT Service Management as a concept is related but not equivalent to ITIL. ITIL contains a subsection specifically entitled "IT Service Management" (the combination of the Service Support and Service Delivery volumes which are a specific example of an ITSM framework), however it is important to note that other such frameworks exist. ITIL Service Management is currently embodied in the ISO 20000 standard (previously BS 15000).
ITIL is built around a process-model based view of controlling and managing operations often credited to W Edwards Deming. The ITIL recommendations were developed in the 1980's by the Central Computer and Telecommunications Agency (CCTA) of the UK Government in response to the growing dependence on information technology and a recognition that without standard practices, government agencies and private sector contracts were independently creating their own IT management practices and duplicating effort within their Information and Communications Technology (ICT) projects resulting in common mistakes and increased costs.[citation needed]
ITIL is published in a series of books, each of which covers a core area within IT Management. The names ITIL and IT Infrastructure Library are Registered Trade Marks of the Office of Government Commerce (OGC), which is an Office of the United Kingdom's Treasury. The content of the books is protected by Crown Copyright.
In April, 2001 the CCTA was merged into the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) and disappeared as a distinct organization. [1]
In December 2005, the OGC issued notice of an ITIL refresh [2], commonly known as ITIL v3, which is planned to be available in late 2006. ITIL Version three publication is expected to initially include five core texts namely: IT Service Design, IT Service Introduction, IT Service Operations, IT Service Improvement and IT Service Strategies consolidating much of the current v2 practice around the Service Lifecycle.
One of the primary benefits claimed by proponents of ITIL within the IT community is its provision of common vocabulary, consisting of a glossary of tightly defined and widely agreed terms. A new and enhanced glossary has been developed as a key deliverable of the the ITIL Refresh Project.