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Visual Mapping Technology Showcases the Benefits of New Web and Client-Server Technology
Vancouver, BC - April 17, 2001 -- Antarctica Systems Inc., a pioneer developer of visual network maps, today announced the arrival of a new application architecture that enables Web developers to create applications that combine the performance of PC-based client software with the user-friendliness and familiarity of the Web browser. As a demonstration of TAXI at work, Antarctica's recently launched public site, located at map.net, is attracting the attention of both end users and the developer community. The site, an integrated continent-sized map of the Internet and showcase for Antarctica's Visual Net product, enables users to explore the Web in 2D and 3D, representing sites and subject categories visually.
TAXI (which stands for Transform, Aggregate, send XML, Interact) is the name given by Tim Bray, co-inventor of XML and founder/CEO of Antarctica Systems Inc., to a new kind of enterprise software architecture. Antarctica's Visual Net product, built on TAXI principles, is an example of a new class of applications that combine the user-friendliness of Web applications with the high performance of multi-tier and client-server systems. Mr. Bray's speeches and publications on the TAXI architecture have struck a chord in the development community. TAXI is the architecture that forms the foundation for the next generation of enterprise applications.
"Until now, XML has mostly been used in back-end and middleware data interchange - not in front of the user the way its designers intended," said Tim Bray. "TAXI works the way XML was meant to, driving applications that work across the enterprise in a way that's efficient and interoperable. Because TAXI puts application code right on the client, the user enjoys the near-instantaneous responsiveness of PCs. Yet the use of standardized programming interfaces makes TAXI as cheap and familiar to deploy as a pure Web application."
TAXI delivers many of the benefits, but few of the problems, of previous generations of application architecture. Early mainframe-centric computer systems had low cost of ownership based on the programs and data being locked up in a back room, but offered poor performance. Client-server and N-tier applications offered better performance by running application code on the desktop, but had high cost of ownership because of the necessity of supporting remotely running code on a variety of PCs. Web applications have been highly popular with end-users, who want to get their job done without leaving the Web browser, and have low ownership costs, but have shared the performance problems of the first-generation mainframe systems.
TAXI allows application code to run on the desktop, but inside the browser and using industry-standard APIs such as XML, the Document Object Model, and HTML. This architecture delivers the low ownership cost of Web applications while simultaneously providing the performance of native client-server code, and allowing the users to stay in the context of the browser.
One of the first applications of TAXI on the Internet is Antarctica's Visual Net. A powerful platform for communicating and displaying information, Visual Net can be applied to nearly any Web-enabled enterprise application. Visual Net plots and diagrams hundreds of thousands of subject categories and millions of Web sites or database entries on 2D and 3D maps. The maps communicate not only the categories of information but also the sizes and popularity of the sites or the frequency of usage and location of database records. Antarctica's Visual Net is an ideal application for enterprise networks, as it dramatically increases the efficiency of access and usability of Intranets and Extranets.
Deeper detail on how TAXI works and its features and benefits were recently published in a white paper written by Tim Bray, available at www.xml.com/pub/a/2001/03/14/taxi.html.
About Antarctica
With offices in Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, Washington, Antarctica Systems Inc., is a pioneer developer of visual network maps. Antarctica delivers services to individuals and organizations through its public Web site at www.map.net and through Visual Net, server-side software that can easily be customized and adapted to new application areas. Antarctica Systems Inc. was founded in 1999 by XML co-creator Tim Bray. Privately held, Antarctica's funding partners include Royal Bank Ventures Inc., the Working Opportunity Fund, itemus inc., and Primary Technology Ventures Inc. For additional information, please visit www.antarctica.net or call 866-net-maps.
Antarctica, Map.net, and Visual Net are trademarks or registered trademarks of Antarctica Systems Inc. in Canada and foreign countries. All other referenced trademarks belong to their respective owners.
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