Driftwood Systems, Inc.
Bothell, Washington
Highlights:
Provides a personalized delivery publisher application that enables Web site operators and distributed application developers to quickly deliver personalized information services via intelligent, persistent agent technology.
Background:
Driftwood Systems, Inc. is making information on the World Wide Web and the corporate Web more accessible and customized for users. While information sources on the internal and external Web have grown exponentially over the last five years, the means of accessing that information is still predominantly interactive requiring the user to be involved in the transaction.
When periodic, unattended delivery of information is available, the content is typically either chosen by the publisher, i.e., an electronic newsletter or a standard report, or -- if it is matched to a customer's profile -- it is limited to a single Web site.
To address this need Driftwood Systems is providing a personalized delivery service framework and application code named "puma." Puma enables distributed application developers, Internet service and content providers, and enterprise Web operators to rapidly deploy safe and private, personalized information delivery services for their subscribers or users. Additionally, puma provides tools to streamline cataloging and notification of content changes to users.
Application:
Subscribers, using a customized information service developed with Driftwood's puma technology, register at a Web site and determine what kind of information they want to receive, as well as when and in what format they would like to receive it. The provider will pre-specify the information sources, delivery timetables, formatting choices and other customizable options.
All of this information is used to create a profile for specific information delivery. The profile is carried by an intelligent, mobile agent representing the user on the network. The agent periodically navigates through any number of sites and databases as configured by the provider, retrieving information specified within the user's profile and finally delivering the data to the user via email, fax, interactively, or by some other method chosen by the user.
Content providers see this capability as a tremendous competitive advantage because they can provide tailored information to their subscribers much more quickly. Worldscape Strategies, a strategic market research firm that makes its research available via the Internet, sees personalized delivery services as a key differentiator. "People are so pressed for time and they typically call us when they need information yesterday," said Judith Rosall, president, Worldscape Strategies.
"Intelligent agent technology offers us a real competitive advantage because not only can it do the work for us and the customer, it can also quickly search the Web for relevant information from other sites and deliver the information back to the user in any format they need. It's so much faster than trying to follow links and deal with traditional search methods." continued Rosall.
Driftwood's puma tools provide developers and web site operators with several options for developing intelligent agent-based personalized services. A complete publishing application, puma can be customized with no Telescript programming to provide a simple, personalized delivery service for databases using topic or text retrieval engines such as those from Verity Inc. The provider can easily customize the user interface using HTML, Java and Javascript without reprogramming the network services.
If a provider or corporate site needs more customization, they can leverage the included puma developer framework upon which the application is based to extend the service. The framework is based on a well defined, flexible interface that allows agents and places from compatible services to interact. The framework provides the ability to customize subscriptions, profiles, local and global cataloging, billing, content management and all other aspects of the service while maintaining compatibility.
Benefits:
Driftwood uses Tabriz products to provide intelligent and persistent agent-based services that do not require the user to be connected to the network. The user can dispatch the agent to do its work on a single or recurring basis. If the network goes down, the Tabriz agent will continue to complete its tasks, either restarting from where it left off or continuing to gather information if it has already reached its destination.
For content providers, developing a personal delivery service from scratch is very costly and time consuming. Using the puma technology they can implement a basic service in a matter of weeks and enhance it as needed over time.
"Our puma product built with the Tabriz products is ideal for personalized services," said Steve Knox, president, Driftwood Systems, Inc. "Two key elements -- agents that can represent users autonomously and with privacy in the network coupled with places that can monitor and restrict the agent's activities -- are critical to the success of safe and secure information services on the corporate and World Wide Web."
For more information:
Steve Knox
Driftwood Systems, Inc.
(206) 775-6495