Gladius is a OS independent Internet application system consisting of a set of software products and components to allow the development, deployment, launch and centralized management of software applications. Just as an Operating System is software that takes care of the computer hardware, Gladius is a application system that focuses only on what applications need and delivers and launches them on your personal computer

Any enterprise application that needs to seamlessly combine the full power of the Internet with the desktop, requires a software infrastructure that enables desktop-like rich client applications which are at once seamless with the Internet. Moreover, the globalized nature of eCommerce requires that the software platform and applications must be thin and available anytime, anywhere. Apsora's Gladius software infrastructure fills this client side void.

Why do we need Gladius?

Today, real change is transforming the one-way Internet into the executable Internet. The static browser-based Internet is being transformed into a robust, fulfilling experience. Powerful 3 gigahertz desktops running Java programs are facilitating a quiet revolution: the convergence of disparate streams of information from disparate servers and the desktop. Corporations have traditionally done this with expensive custom applications to get at the information that resides on their internal and, sometimes, external servers. The executable, or X-Internet, offers more efficient web services by exploiting the robust client's power to both access and process information as it is delivered transparently from anywhere on the Internet/Intranet.

As it operates today, the browser-based static Internet is limiting. The browser loads a new page every time you enter a few items in an online form. A website loses track of what you're doing if you accidentally hit the "Back" button. It's because browsers send and retrieve data in batches, like a 1975 mainframe terminal doling data out to a dumb client, not like a modern, interactive software application. It is as if a word processor reloaded every time the user asked for a word count, an unacceptable situation for anybody. John Dalton, analyst at Forrester Research, contends," The web is actually a step backward in flexibility, functionality and power."

Convergence of the Internet with the desktop demands a thin, OS independent, application system such as Gladius.

Business Trends

· All businesses, small and large, are expanding into global markets and use the Internet as the preferred infrastructure for business process management

· Business acceptance of the Internet continues to grow around the world. According to IDC, 75% of all businesses with 100+ employees will use the new Internet at least once a day.

· All business processes, including project management, salesforce training, inventory control are becoming more Internet-centric because of its efficiency, ubiquity and inexpensiveness.

· Convergence of the desktop with Internet is underway. Instead of one silo of desktop applications and another silo of Internet applications,. Internet-centric applications that are at once convergent with the desktop and are rich in user interaction is becoming the norm

In essence, Internet is fast becoming the business infrastructure of the future and convergence of the desktop with the Internet is absolutely essential. The various approaches to transforming today's Internet into the executable-Internet will continue. Joshua Duhl of the market research firm IDC says that such a transformation, however it happens, is necessary if eCommerce is to sustain its expected 50% CAGR.

Technology Trends

A combination of emerging diverse technologies is taking Internet utilization to the next level -

· Portable data - XML
· Portable code - Java
· New desktop operating systems - Linux, Symbian
· New operating devices - Tablet PC's, Internet-Kiosks
· New office document storage standards - OASIS
· New industry standards - HL7 for Healthcare, OFX for Finance
· Remote data access via WebServices, XML-RPC's
· Wireless connectivity - 802.11a, b, g
· Significant network bandwidth - gigabits
· Powerful yet inexpensive client devices - 3+ GHz CPU with significant memory and storage
· Ubiquitous availability of Internet around the world

Thus, collectively, we see a brand new wave of next-generation applications which are marked by portable code, portable data and seamlessly integrated with the ubiquitous Internet. (Figure 1)

In this new Internet environment, industry leaders such as IBM, Oracle, and BEA are aggressively pursuing the server-side capabilities. Network infrastructure companies such as Cisco and Juniper are pushing the envelope to bring gigabit bandwidth to the desktop. Industry and federal initiatives such as Internet2 and Next Generation Internet (NGI) have created consortiums to design, develop and deliver solutions in healthcare and other vertical industries.

Unfortunately, the client side software infrastructure, based on browsers, remains significantly weak and a serious limiting factor. The new Internet requires capabilities on the client to execute applications, and to manipulate the data. Today's browsers, even with clever use of JSP's and DHTML, are inadequate to support such executional capabilities with seamless interaction with desktop applications across all operating systems. As we look ahead at the next generation Internet and the applications (or solutions) which utilize its capabilities, it becomes quite apparent that today's browsing interface imposes several limitations on what applications can deliver. These limitations frustrate end-users and solution architects, and severely limit the capabilities of new, enabling technologies. End-users miss their rich desktop interfaces. Solution architects struggle to implement even moderately complex applications.

Therefore, an intelligent, OS-independent, client-side software system which removes today's limitations is essential to harness the true versatility of the new Internet.

Gladius Description

Gladius consists of:

· Crossbow™, installed on each client device
· StreamBolt™ installed on servers for on-demand code streaming and
· Sentinel installed on servers for remote IT administration and monitoring purposes.

Crossbow is an application execution platform that combined the best of browsers with the richness of a desktop interface. It is a comprehensive yet thin execution environment for Java applications much the same way as Windows® is for C/C++/C# applications. Crossbow is installed once on each client device. It allows for the development and deployment of multi-source and multi-view applications on the client. It includes technology to allow applications to be run on the client, but managed and maintained centrally. It includes tools and Java technologies for XML to create a complete user environment with a rich, uniform, GUI interface for local, hybrid, or remote applications. This enables the development and deployment of rich client-side Java applications that are based on industry standards.

StreamBolt is installed on selected servers for on-demand application provisioning. Application code is streamed from StreamBolt servers to the client-side Crossbow platform and executed there. The combination of on-demand provisioning and execution on the client provides best of both worlds - central management as well as utilization of client computation power.

Sentinel is installed on administrative servers for remote monitoring and administration of Crossbow and StreamBolt as well as applications installed on Crossbow. Sentinel tools are installed on selected administrative hosts. These tools allow the centralization of application management, thus retaining all the advantages of server-centric thin-client applications, yet leveraging the richness of the client.

The Gladius Difference

The new generation of applications will be different from today's desktop applications in many respects, such as portability and multi-computation modes of operation. We capture the essence of key capabilities in following terms -

MultiView:

MultiView user interaction is the norm when it comes to desktop-style rich applications. Unfortunately, the browser-based applications are inherently restricted to a page-by-page interface. Tomorrow's solutions, which will bring together the best of browsers and desktop, will provide desktop-style multiview interaction while keeping the thinness of browser-like platform.

MultiSource

Today's browser-environments force an application (e.g., applet) to communicate with one source (e.g., data-source) at a time. In a true connected world, end users will benefit enormously if they can avail themselves of MultiSource information (i.e., obtained from multiple sources). For example, a portfolio management application can obtain data from a stock-market as well as industry analysts and/or government projections, thus allowing end users to make far better informed decisions.

MultiComputation

Multicomputation refers to utilization of computation power where it matters most. Given the power of new client platforms (>3GHz, >0.5G memory, Gigabit bandwidth), many compute intense application can very well use that power for number crunching while keeping the servers busy with centralized operations.

MultiPlatform

MultiPlatform (i.e., OS-independent) solutions will be a must in the new global economy. OS-specific solutions are inherently constrained only for that particular OS whereas the well-connected global economy will demand a OS-neutral, or frictionless, solutions.

MultiAxis Communication

MultiAxis Communication refers to communication not only with webservices but also peer-to-peer. New solutions, such as instant messaging, need simultaneous seamless connectivity to server-based data as well as data on the edge and individuals.

Managed Centrally

Centrally managed code refers to hosting a application on a server and then streaming it to the clients as needed. This provides for best of both worlds - a thin client platform yet rich executional applications.

Monitoring and Measurement

Monitoring and measurement are essential to address security concerns. Security of code and data as well as the individuals who access these is critical. While single-signon kind of capabilities are critically important, they do not suffice in the extended enterprise. New industry-wide initiatives such as Liberty Alliance are essential and tomorrow's applications and solutions must integrate those also.

Mortise with Client legacy

New solutions may need to process documents that have been created using older or other proprietary tools. In such cases, the client application must be able to either mortise with (build bridges to) those tools or read those documents directly. Such seamless extensibility to other applications and/or documents is essential for truly rich client applications. Other types of bridges are also conceivable, for example, a bridge to a micro-recorder device connected to the local computer or interface to Autocad-style object models so that they can be rendered in 3-D on the client device.

Gladius Release

Gladius members Crossbow and StreamBolt are available today on Windows (2000, NT & 98), Linux and soon on MacOS X. The Sentinel tools are in early development stage.

Gladius can be made available on any platform that supports a Java Virtual Machine (JVM), including handheld devices and embedded systems, although the server side products would normally be installed only on server-class machines.