Tabriz: Solution

The Solution:

Tabriz Agent Products

The Tabriz product line unleashes the full potential of the Internet by providing everything developers need to create and deploy active, persistent, secure agent-based applications.

The product family includes Tabriz AgentWare, which is Web software for executing and managing agent-based applications; and Tabriz Agent Tools, which are developer tools for creating agent-based applications that are deployed at Tabriz Web sites. All Tabriz agent products are built on the Telescript programming language developed and licensed by General Magic.

Telescript: A Breakthrough Technology

Telescript is an object-oriented programming language that enables developers to create interactive Internet applications.

Telescript leapfrogs current technologies and gives vendors and users a new level of flexibility. It is specifically designed for secure communication, so the key differentiating features of Telescript agents\0xD1activity, persistence, and security\0xD1are inherently built in.

There are three simple yet powerful concepts in the Telescript language: agents, places, and go.

Agents are the Telescript programs that are sent across networks. They are encapsulations of users' instructions that perform all kinds of tasks on Telescript-enabled networks, in places such as electronic mailboxes or electronic merchants. Agents can be programmed to service the unique, personalized requests of each user. They can also be programmed with contingency plans, so they perform services intelligently.

Places are venues where agents meet other agents. Like an agent, a place is an object created in the Telescript language. However, places are stationary. A personal computer or a Personal Internet Communicator or a Web site can have places. Places may be used in any combination to create new applications. For example, a ticket agency, a restaurant listing service, and a flower delivery service may all be places; a personal concierge company might create an entertainment coordinator agent that knows how to buy tickets, make restaurant reservations, and deliver flowers on the evening of a performance.

Go is the simple operation in the Telescript language that initiates the communion of agents and places. Agents go to places and interact with other agents. It greatly reduces the complexity of network programming by simplifying the job for developers who are providing solutions that involve resources from many different parts of the network.

Tabriz AgentWare

Based on Telescript, Tabriz AgentWare delivers on the full promise of agent technology. Specifically, Tabriz AgentWare includes:

The Telescript execution environment
All the components that are required to host a Tabriz application
Management facilities to manage the server, subscribers, and applications
Demo applications

The Tabriz Agent Tools suite includes:

A Telescript engine with a TCP/IP-based communications infrastructure that facilitates application development
A full set of Web class libraries:

Active Web Server Libraries, which enable access to Telescript from the Web
HTML Support Libraries, which enable the representation of HTML pages as a collection of Telescript objects for programmatically generating and manipulating HTML
Web Accessing Libraries, which permit Telescript processes to make HTTP requests of conventional, passive Web sites

The fully integrated, graphical Telescript Development Environment, complete with source-level debugging, a class browser, program manager, compiler, and documentation
NCSA Web Server
Sample code for email notification, registration log-in, and administration
On-line documentation
Sample applications that demonstrate how to create active services

The table below provides a summary of the key features and benefits of Tabriz AgentWare, which includes the Tabriz Agent Tools development suite. A more detailed discussion of activity, persistence, and security is presented in the next section.

Features

Benefits

Active agents

Tabriz agents provide unlimited mobility, enabling interactive processes
The Telescript language hides the complexity of creating active agents from developers
In a distributed application, the user's mobile agents move ('go') between cooperating Tabriz sites (each with its own engine)

Persistence

All agents are implicitly "persistent," all data is automatically saved in the object store, on disk.
Agents mine cooperative Web sites for information even when the user is off-line.
State is preserved from page to page, while disconnected from the Web browser, and on subsequent user logins. State is also preserved across multiple Tabriz servers and in system reboots or restarts.

Built-in security

Authentication ensures that every agent acts only on the user's authority and has privileges only on authorized sites
Access control and privacy features ensure that agents have no direct access to system resources, and that access to any resource is always predefined and controllable.
Fine-grained controls such as agent permits and authorities enable developers and operators to govern resource consumption and uniquely identify agents.

Multithreaded process interaction model

Agents can "meet" and interact, performing transactions on behalf of individual users while the users are disconnected from the Web.

Support for standard browsers

Applications can be accessed by any standard Web browser, including Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and others, so your company can access applications to virtually any client on the Internet or your corporate intranet.

Compatible with any HTTP server

Tabriz AgentWare enhances the functions of standard Web servers that provide a CGI interface, including Netscape, NCSA, and Apache servers, so applications are supported by most Internet servers.

Multiple applications hosted per server

single Tabriz AgentWare server can host multiple active applications simultaneously, allowing you to deploy a wide range of end-user services on the Internet or intranets.
All hosted applications are listed in the Application Registry for easy identification.

Easy to use

Tabriz AgentWare is easy to install, configure, and administer via an intuitive, graphical , browser-based user interface

Intuitive, powerful administration and management

Tabriz AgentWare provides comprehensive management facilities via a simple, easy-to-use browser interface.
The management console makes it simple to install applications, manage user registrations, track subscriber activity, conduct system backups and restores, and monitor server traffic.
Advanced server management capabilities provide powerful features for managing multiple applications and managing scalability.

Scalable

Additional Telescript engines can be added to a Tabriz cloud on either the same physical host or over multiple machines to handle larger numbers of users and higher volumes of traffic.

Multiple notification options

Agents mining the Web can notify the user when a request has been completed via email, and paging.
Support for text-based Internet mail notification via SMTP is included, along with reference implementations for other notification means such as paging.

Object-oriented language with graphical development tools

The language greatly simplifies the creation of active, persistent services over other languages such as C/C++ or Perl.
The language and graphical development tools together provide an easy-to-use development environment for rapid application development, reducing product development cycles.

Tabriz Web Libraries

The developers toolkit includes a full set of Web Class libraries including:

Tabriz AgentWare Libraries, which enable access to Telescript from the Web
HTML Support Libraries, which enable the representation of HTML pages as a collection of Telescript objects for programmatically generating and manipulating HTML
Tabriz Web Accessing Libraries, which permit agents to make HTTP requests of other Web servers that are not hosting a Tabriz AgentWare server

Java support

Tabriz and Java are complementary. Tabriz agents can set parameters for Java applets and Java applets can call Tabriz operations on the server.
The interoperability between Tabriz and Java allows developers to create solutions that leverage the power of the two languages, with Java on the client and Tabriz on the server.

Telescript Complements Java

It is important to note that Telescript and Java are complementary, interoperable languages. Telescript agents can set parameters for Java applets and Java applets can call Telescript operations on the server. This interoperability allows developers to create solutions that leverage the power of the two environments: Java can be used to create and manage compelling user experiences, while Tabriz can manage transactions, instructions, events, and processes.

Product Direction

In the near future, Tabriz agent products will provide agent access to structured data in corporate databases. ODBC connectivity will be provided for connectivity to a wide range of database systems, and SQL connectivity to Oracle and Sybase systems will be available as an optional add-on module.

Tabriz will also soon provide connectivity to search engines. The optional Verity add-on module provides an interface from the Tabriz AgentWare to Verity's Topic products: the Topic Development Kit (TDK) and the Topic Agent Server (TAS), providing information search-and-retrieval functions for Tabriz applications.

In addition, General Magic has committed to integrating and supporting evolving Web standards as they emerge, ensuring customers of a smooth transition path to exciting new technologies and capabilities.

The above section of this report contains forward looking statements. These forward looking statements are subject to risks which may cause actual results to vary, including business conditions and growth in the market and general economy; competitive factors and price pressures. Additional risks are set forth in the Company's most recent Form 10K and 10Qs.

The Opportunity | The Advantage

Features	Benefits
Active agents	Tabriz agents provide unlimited mobility, enabling interactive processes The Telescript language hides the complexity of creating active agents from developers In a distributed application, the user's mobile agents move ('go') between cooperating Tabriz sites (each with its own engine)
Persistence	All agents are implicitly "persistent," all data is automatically saved in the object store, on disk. Agents mine cooperative Web sites for information even when the user is off-line. State is preserved from page to page, while disconnected from the Web browser, and on subsequent user logins. State is also preserved across multiple Tabriz servers and in system reboots or restarts.
Built-in security	Authentication ensures that every agent acts only on the user's authority and has privileges only on authorized sites Access control and privacy features ensure that agents have no direct access to system resources, and that access to any resource is always predefined and controllable. Fine-grained controls such as agent permits and authorities enable developers and operators to govern resource consumption and uniquely identify agents.
Multithreaded process interaction model	Agents can "meet" and interact, performing transactions on behalf of individual users while the users are disconnected from the Web.
Support for standard browsers	Applications can be accessed by any standard Web browser, including Netscape Navigator, Microsoft Internet Explorer, and others, so your company can access applications to virtually any client on the Internet or your corporate intranet.
Compatible with any HTTP server	Tabriz AgentWare enhances the functions of standard Web servers that provide a CGI interface, including Netscape, NCSA, and Apache servers, so applications are supported by most Internet servers.
Multiple applications hosted per server	single Tabriz AgentWare server can host multiple active applications simultaneously, allowing you to deploy a wide range of end-user services on the Internet or intranets. All hosted applications are listed in the Application Registry for easy identification.
Easy to use	Tabriz AgentWare is easy to install, configure, and administer via an intuitive, graphical , browser-based user interface
Intuitive, powerful administration and management	Tabriz AgentWare provides comprehensive management facilities via a simple, easy-to-use browser interface. The management console makes it simple to install applications, manage user registrations, track subscriber activity, conduct system backups and restores, and monitor server traffic. Advanced server management capabilities provide powerful features for managing multiple applications and managing scalability.
Scalable	Additional Telescript engines can be added to a Tabriz cloud on either the same physical host or over multiple machines to handle larger numbers of users and higher volumes of traffic.
Multiple notification options	Agents mining the Web can notify the user when a request has been completed via email, and paging. Support for text-based Internet mail notification via SMTP is included, along with reference implementations for other notification means such as paging.
Object-oriented language with graphical development tools	The language greatly simplifies the creation of active, persistent services over other languages such as C/C++ or Perl. The language and graphical development tools together provide an easy-to-use development environment for rapid application development, reducing product development cycles.
Tabriz Web Libraries	The developers toolkit includes a full set of Web Class libraries including: Tabriz AgentWare Libraries, which enable access to Telescript from the Web HTML Support Libraries, which enable the representation of HTML pages as a collection of Telescript objects for programmatically generating and manipulating HTML Tabriz Web Accessing Libraries, which permit agents to make HTTP requests of other Web servers that are not hosting a Tabriz AgentWare server
Java support	Tabriz and Java are complementary. Tabriz agents can set parameters for Java applets and Java applets can call Tabriz operations on the server. The interoperability between Tabriz and Java allows developers to create solutions that leverage the power of the two languages, with Java on the client and Tabriz on the server.