From: Sally Khudairi (press@zotgroup.com)
Date: Mon Apr 24 2000 - 10:37:15 PDT
of "Blocks"
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Invisible Worlds and Collab.Net Partner, Facilitate Open Source Development
of "Blocks" XML-based Protocol
Petaluma, CA --- April 23, 2000 --- Invisible Worlds deepens its
partnership with Collab.Net with the submission of three more Requests for
Proposals (RFPs) to Collab.Net's sourceXchange marketplace, the premier
collaborative B2B exchange for financing and managing open source software
development over the Internet.
"I've been working in the open source world for close to 20 years," said
Dr. Marshall T. Rose, Chief Technology Officer of Invisible
Worlds. "Often, the open source process has been a hit-or-miss
proposition. Collab.Net provides structure, quality control, and other
services that provide crucial direction to open source development.
Collab.Net helps companies that are new to open source as well as groups
such as ours that have long been part of the open source community."
Invisible Worlds first new RFP includes the creation of a Blocks analysis
module for tcpdump, the premiere open-source tool for network traffic
analysis. Two additional RFPs from Invisible Worlds include enhancements to
new Perl- and Java-based SpaceKits for Perl and Java, which are software
developer kits for both client- and server-side Blocks programming.
"We're looking forward to working even more closely with Invisible Worlds
as they deploy a large number of solutions for the developer community,"
said Brian Behlendorf, CTO of Collab.Net and co-founder of the Apache
Project. "We completed our initial project with Invisible Worlds, which was
the successful integration of the Blocks protocol into the Apache 2 Web
server. We were really pleased that Invisible Worlds and Collab.Net worked
together to demonstrate this key new feature of Apache 2."
Tim Davies, CEO of Invisible Worlds, added: "We look forward to working
with Collab.Net to provide developer access to the Blocks protocol. We are
committed to making information easier to manage and we believe our
protocol and this partnership are a major step in achieving that goal."
The sourceXchange RFP is a proposal for the community to develop new open
source software in exchange for funding from the sponsor of the RFP.
Collab.Net facilitates collaboration between the community and the sponsor,
and provides guidance and structure for open source development, including
setting milestones, peer review and communication forums.
The XML-based "Blocks" protocol from Invisible Worlds is a powerful open
standard for Internet queries as well as navigation of the Internet,
corporate intranets, and other complex information spaces. Because Blocks
is based on XML, query results can be published in virtually any form that
the user desires.
The Blocks protocol is implemented as three different software modules. The
"Mixer" transforms unstructured raw data into structured metadata, converts
it to XML, and mixes it into "Blocks." The "SpaceServer" stores metadata
and integrates it into the underlying data store. Finally, "Builders"
retrieve Blocks of metadata, which are highly adaptable for a wide range of
applications.
About Invisible Worlds
Petaluma, CA-based Invisible Worlds was founded in August 1998. The Blocks
protocol is the latest in a list of solutions that will use Invisible
Worlds' technology. The company is privately held and is funded by Reuters
Greenhouse Fund, a unit of Reuters PLC of London; Softbank Venture Capital;
and El Dorado Ventures. For more information, see www.invisible.net.
About Collab.Net
Collab.Net is a leader in creating new open source markets by combining
open source community expertise with business excellence. By utilizing the
essential collaborative processes of the open source community, Collab.Net
supplies customers with products and services that facilitate
well-organized, open source development. Collab.Net provides a developer
marketplace, hosting services with development lifecycle management
capabilities and professional services to facilitate collaborative, open
source software development among a worldwide community of developers.
Customers using Collab.Net open source services include ASP and Internet
firms, hardware and software providers, as well as companies from
industries such as marketing and publishing. Brian Behlendorf, co-founder
of the Apache Software Foundation, co-founded Collab.Net in July 1999. For
more information, see www.collab.net.
For more information contact:
Luther Brown Jacki DeCoster
Director of Marketing Communication Public Relations Manager
Invisible Worlds Collab.Net
1179 N. McDowell Blvd. 457 Bryant Street
Petaluma, CA 94954 San Francisco, CA 94107
707/789-3723; fax - 707/789-3010 415/908-1734; fax - 415/247-11697
lbrown@invisible.net jacki@collab.net
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