Xchange Network Synchronization Platform
We’ve gotten a lot of requests for information relative to how the Xchange Network Synchronization Platform works (the core of XC Connect), so we thought that we would post the following document… hope that it’s helpful to you!
Summary
Xchange Network provides a “best of breed” data synchronization platform that allows arbitrary data to be synchronized between any client application. The current implementation of this data synchronization platform is in the form a product called XC Connect.
Description:
The Xchange Network synchronization platform approach is simple:
1. treat all data objects as xml blobs which the software server will pass to client connectors that understand the context and usage of the data.
2. do not modify or reformat the data.
There are two basic components:
the software server, (also called (XC Bridge”) and
the “client connector”
The software server’s purpose is to act as a data repository and to handle the bilateral synchronization logic. The software server determines and controls what data needs to be provided to a given “client” each time each individual client synchronizes.
The client connectors process the xml data by interacting with the client application and the software server. Its purpose is simply to apply the data in the context of the client application when data is received from the software server, or if data is created, modified, or deleted by the client application, to wrap the data object into the xml blob and send it to the software server.
As a result, the software server has no need to “understand” the data as it is simply passed along to other client connectors as needed, thereby eliminating any possibility of data loss during synchronization. Data transfer is secure and access to the data is based upon a permissions model.
Since most client applications are closed source, but have external access API’s (COM, CORBA, AppleEvents, JDBC/ODBC, etc.), Xchange Network has designed the connector framework with those implementation details in mind. New client connectors for currently unsupported applications can be implemented within a very short period since the connector framework itself does the majority of the work.
Both the software server and the client connector framework are written in Java to allow as much flexibility as possible with regards to deployment requirements. This allows both to run on any operating system that supports Java Virtual Machine resulting in unparalleled flexibility.
Current Platform Usage:
The synchronization platform is currently being implemented within a product called XC Connect, which allows Calendar, Contact, and Task data to be shared (synchronized) across any combination of Outlook (COM), Entourage (AppleEvents), Apple iCal/Address Book (combination of AppleEvents and JNI) and Evolution (CORBA).
None of the applications require modification in any way, or are affected in any way, since the data interaction is treated in the same manner as user input.
In addition, the software server contains add-on modules to expose the Calendar, Contact, and Task XML data via a web-browser interface providing yet additional flexibility to data access.
XC Connect is currently a deployed solution with an active and growing customer base across virtually every vertical market segment. Customers range from financial institutions, legal offices, schools and universities, and many more.
No Client Data Loss:
One of the huge problems with supporting multiple client applications is that each application has its own list of supported data fields. As a point of reference, in the current implementation of the XC Connect collaboration server, one example is the calendar data that is synchronized between the Outlook Calendar and Apple iCal calendar.
Outlook has a very large list of fields that it supports, while iCal supports a limited number of fields.
In most implementations, this would mean that when an iCal user modifies an item, any unsupported fields would be lost.
However, the connector framework has seamless support for this scenario, and as a result, no data is lost. The changes are simply merged to the existing xml and sent to the server ensuring that everything is still present when synchronized to Outlook.
Other Possibilities:
Due to the flexibility afforded by the architecture, the specific items within a record can be easily extended since the software server does not have to individually manipulate or modify the data record that it is managing. One can easily see adding, CRM, or ERP, or any other specific application type to the mix of implementations and all that would be required are the client connectors to support it (them). This yields the ability to support data synchronization for example, between conflicting client or server applications within a matter of weeks with neither application requiring modification of any kind.
Conclusion:
The Xchange Network synchronization platform is both very powerful and very flexible. It enables data to be synchronized between multiple disparate client applications with little development time and without affecting the existing user application.
For further information, please contact us at info@xcnetwork.com !
Posted in data synchronization