HOSTING SERVICES - LINKING THE INFORMATION WAREHOUSE TO THE INFORMATION CONSUMER

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1 HOSTING SERVICES - LINKING THE INFORMATION WAREHOUSE TO THE INFORMATION CONSUMER Brian Freeman & Gideon Lidor AT&T Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, New Jersey Abstract The warehouse and highway analogies of the information infrastructure address the storage and transport of information. To create information services for end-users, the infrastructure needs to address also the "retail" functions of ubiquitous availability. customer support, billing, advertising, and packaging the information in an easy to use form, accessible to the information consumers. This paper describes the concepts and functions of Hosting Services, designed to address these "retai1"functions and fill the gaps between the raw information "mine", the information warehouse, and the information consumer. 1. Introduction Much of the recent interest in the Information Highway and the National Information Infrastructure (MI) has focused on the technological aspects of providing the transport and storage facilities for the high bandwidth services of the future. Indeed the NI1 has been described as a "seamless web of communications networks, computers, databases, and consumer electronics that will put vast amounts of information at users' fingertips." While there are many research and commercial endeavors to address the technologies of the physical components of the infrastructure - from set-top boxes and hand-held communicators through switches and fiberoptic transmission, more needs to be done to define a logical architecture that will enable the evolution of useful services to Information Consumers (referred to simply as "consumers" for brevity). Furthermore, Content Owners, also referred to as Information Providers in this paper, need more than highways and warehouses to make their information available to end-users. The remainder of this chapter addresses the emerging information environment, the information services industry, and the missing elements in the highway and warehouse analogy. Chapter 2 describes Hosting Services and their role as the missing link. Chapter 3 details the components of hosting and Chapter 4 discusses an architecture for realizing the functions of Hosting Services Elements of a Distributed Information Architecture It is safe to assume that the information infrastructure will not evolve as a centralized, government sponsored enterprise the way the interstate highway system evolved. The experience of the Internet points to a highly distributed environment consisting of multiple independent networks, content providers, software and tools providers, access providers, etc., all tied loosely together by standards and some networking "glue." The collection of value added services that make this loose aggregation useful and usable to Information Providers and consumers is referred to as Hosting Services. In this environment, end-users may be equipped with a workstation and a modem, a TV set, a hand-held cellular device, or a plain telephone. They may be connected to a LAN that has servers, possibly with some local information repositories, as well as gateways to external networks. The "highway" itself is an abstraction for data bandwidth, since wireless connectivity and broadcast capabilities transcend the physical limitations of wired networks. The content warehouse may be distributed in multiple geographic and logical entities. The warehouse may contain, for example, all the intemal information of an enterprise, regardless of the physical location, platform or format, or it may contain business information assembled from multiple Information Providers under a common format, a common system or a common service provider. The software needed to access and display information could well be partitioned among the client station, a server on a LAN, a network service node and the content warehouse. The distributed and fractured nature of this information environment poses /94 $ IEEE 165

2 several challenges to providing end-to-end information services The information services industry For the Information Consumer, this infrastructure is of little interest. Consumers want easy and economical access to information, without having to deal with the complexities of the environment and without the need to work separately with the Content Owners, the network providers, the application software developers and the many other entities that enable end-to-end information solutions. Indeed, the emergence of general on-line information services such as and America On as well as business-oriented services such as Dow and Mead Data was prompted by the need to simplify the process of accessing information for the end-user. The model of most current information services, while addressing some of the Information Consumers' needs, falls short in others. Most current services deal with public, external information sources but do not provide platforms for integrating intemal business information, and the intemal data networking architecture of an enterprise. In many cases, the services provide no more than a gateway from the user to the content provider, or to a copy of the contents, residing on a central system owned by the service. Furthermore, the Information Provider 's needs in collecting, updating, and managing the information content are not fully met by today's information services. The issues of what value added services are desired, and how to provide them are the central themes of this paper Where the highway and warehouse analogy falls short The concept of an "Information Warehouse" has been used in recent years in contexts that are mostly associated with distributed databases, relational database systems, and enterprise-wide decision support systems. In this paper, we refer to a much broader context -- that of a repository for any type of content, in any form. Thus, a warehouse may contain a library of video information, audio recordings, or more conventional textual data. It may be centrally located or distributed, possibly on heterogeneous platforms, with the common denominator being the type of data, its source, its owner or broker, or other factors. The huge storage demands on video information, and the high bandwidth needed to extract this information and carry it to many users have resulted in significant technical interest in the warehouse and the highway aspects. In the merchandising analogy, however, with the exception of "factory outlets" and "warehouse shopping clubs," most products are sold through retailers who fulfill the functions of packaging, advertising, distribution, billing, and customer support. Similarly, most Information Consumers require this "retail" function to make use of the content stored in the information warehouse. Information Providers need these functions for the same reasons that manufacturers need wholesale and retail channels. 2. The missing link -- Hosting Services The "retail" function is the missing link in the information warehouse analogy. The link creates an environment where a broad range of Information Providers are accessed routinely by an even broader range of Information Consumers. We call this link Hosting Services. It is the need to satisfy both the Information Provider and the Information Consumer that uniquely positions a Hosting Service provider as the connection "broker" or "retailer." Hosting Services provide business and operations functions to the Information Provider such as universal access, maintenance, provisioning and account servicing, security, targeted marketing, and network administration. These functions are beyond simple database maintenance since the "content" in today's information services is both "data" and "logic." The complexity of maintaining, tracking, and ensuring trouble free execution of the "logic" is typically a core competency of the Hosting Service provider. Hosting Services provide value added functions to the Information Consumer by providing "ease of use" functions such as personalization, authentication (including digital signatures), directory, knowledge navigation, and customer support. By making access to information simple, personalized to the individual, and pleasing to the end-user, the overall demand for information services will increase, thus helping the Content Owners and Information Providers promote the use of their wares. There are several reasons why an intermediary Hosting Service would make sense from the Information Consumer's perspective: Consistent interface across all the Information Consumer's needs. One stop shopping. 166

3 0 Potential for queries that involve multiple Information Providers. 0 Consistent service quality. From the Information Provider 's perspective. Hosting Services provide: 0 Relief from administrative functions unrelated to information content (e.g., billing, service management). 0 Technical expertise not available in-house for many Information Providers (e.g., networking, media and format conversion and compression). Economies of scale, especially for new and small Information Providers. 0 0 Maintenance of compatibility with standards. A networking and distribution agent. The role of Hosting Services in the distributed information environment is shown in Figure Components of Hosting Ubiquitous access across media types: A Hosting Service provider must provide ubiquitous access to information. The service should also permit the Information Provider to deliver the content to the Hosting Service in one format and have the Hosting Service translate and filter that content into the various device types that could reasonably display the information to the end-user. For example, a consumer using an audio-only device should be able to hear the audio portion of a video clip. The use of standard formats for posting data to the Hosting Service requires cooperation between the Hosting Service provider and the Information Provider in setting the standards. Managing the cost of access and providing the expertise required to work the cross media and access issues, is a core competency of a Hosting Service provider that can not be easily replicated by any single Information Provider. Personalization and authentication: All Information Consumers are not alike nor are they static. A Hosting Service provider must be able to tailor the environment to the individual; to make the service fun to use for each user but also to help turn "data" into "knowledge" for the individual. This requires an individual "customer profile" that can be used across Information Providers. A Hosting Service is better able to store and maintain this profile than individual Information Providers. The latter can and will maintain their own profiles but most Information Consumers will desire a consistent environment across Information Providers. Personalization includes Authentication of the user since the process of authenticating the user can range from simple passwords to voice prints and digital signatures, depending on the user's device and networking arrangements. Directory and information searching: The wealth of information that will exist in information warehouses will require mechanisms for finding the right information in a timely manner. The typical warehouse has an inventory database that lists the available items and their location. The Hosting Service provider could support such an inventory using facilities such as the Internet's Domain Name Services, Archie, World Wide Web, and Gopher. However, rather than simply a listing of where each item is located, the consumer needs a "guide" to the warehouse. The "guide" is a directory or a menu function that assists not only in selecting and locating the Information Provider (s) but in directing the consumer to the set of Information Provider "shelves" that can best meet his or her information needs. An Information Provider can only provide directory or menu functions for themselves. The Hosting Service provider is uniquely positioned to provide the guide system especially if it can be combined with the personalization attributes. The guide consists of three (logical) parts: A low level file directory system, a searching function to transparently locate the right information, and a simple menu system for categories of commonly accessed data (for example, world events). Service maintenance: Information providers want their information to be available whenever an Information Consumer desires it. This requires pro-active and reactive maintenance of systems, databases, and application logic to meet high availability and, in some cases, faulttolerant performance metrics. Many Content Owners do not have the expertise to provide the desired level of service availability and reliability, nor do they wish to acquire it. Provisioning and account maintenance: The Hosting Service provider must have a means for installing the Information Provider 's logic and data into the hosting platform. It must also be able to add new end-users, maintain their accounting information, and install their personalized logic and data. These functions are mandatory minimum needs for a service provider. They are equivalent to having forklifts and ladders for moving inventory into and out of the warehouse. 167

4 FIGURE 1 HOSTING SERVICES ROLES IN FORMATION CONSUMERS - LAN HOSTING SERVICES FORMATTED CONTENT 4 INFORMATION m PROVIDERS b B ::;::; >\....i.... BILLING AL~RTS w CTJ AUTHORING TARGET MANAGER MARKETING :.:.:.: (.:.:... DMAINT. ADMIN. u i RELATIONAL & l)i& TRANSACTION DI :.:.:.:.:.:.:.: y VIDEO SERVER i CONTENT AUTHOR 168

5 Network administration: Network management, routing, and number translation services are required by both the Information Provider and the Information Consumer. The maintenance of the data that defines these "routes" must be maintained. This is analogous to putting directory signs in the warehouse and printing maps for the users of the warehouse. Targeted marketing: The Hosting Service provider typically has data on the Information Consumers that crosses multiple Information Providers and perhaps lies outside the context of Information retrieval (e.g., hobbies). Thus, the Hosting Service can provide a targeted marketing service to Information Providers. This is an attractive offering to Information Provideas since it permits them to target information using "good" source data on the consumer. If done in an effective and "unobtrusive" manner, such as by voluntary response e- mail, it can be of benefit to the consumer as well. Customer support: A critical function for creating a community of Information Consumers that frequent the information warehouse is a good help system (live and on-line electronic) that meets a wide range of skill levels. The range extends from users who cannot program their VCR to application developers for the Information Provider. It is often uneconomical for Information Providers to support extensive help facilities and customer support, especially when the provider is new or has a limited offering. Alerts processing: Part of what will make the Hosting Service pleasing to the Information Consumer will be the ability of the service to act on the consumer's behalf. This includes a capability to "Alert" the consumer when a prespecified event or events have occurred. Although Information Providers can provide this function individually, alerts may require information from multiple providers. In addition, alerts may require the personalized consumer data from the Hosting Service. Application media managemenk Application Media Management includes services provided to the Information provider to create the data and logic of the "content" and manage the distribution of the content into the platforms that Information Consumer access. This includes transaction controls, versioning, replication, and format conversion for multiple consumer device types. One of the advantages of the Hosting Service is that the media management tools can permit the Information Provider to prepare their content in one format and the Host will permit consumers to retrieve the information in various formats depending on their capabilities. For instance the Host can translate multimedia electronic mail to text or to audio using appropriate filters and converters. While this function could be created by the Information Provider, the problem of maintaining the filters becomes staggering over time. The Host provides commonality and standardization of format that permits everyone to reap benefits in making their content available to a wide range of existing devices and to new devices without Information Provider effort. Billing and event recording: The Information Provider can take advantage of the Hosting Service billing and event recording functions to generate invoices or credit card charges for information purchased by the Information Consumer. Since the Information Provider needs a "store front," the Hosting Service can provide the cash register function for the electronic store. This also includes billing inquiry, accounts receivable, and other back-office functions that can permit the Information Provider to focus on Information rather than the backoffice functions. This is especially attractive to the small Information Providers that do not have the resources to efficiently handle these functions on their own. 4. Architectural environment for realizing Hosting Services The architecture framework for providing information and content services can be partitioned logically into five components: 0 The Content Owner environment, which includes the collection and storage of the original information, often in raw form. The hosting environment. The network carrier environment, typically an interexchange carrier network that forms the backbone of the information highway. The access environment, enabling access from the user device, Local Area Network, PBX, etc., to the backbone high-speed network. The end user environment, including the user device, LAN, and local hosts. The architecture framework is shown in Figure 2. The logical partitioning of the environment leaves open the question of where and how to realize Hosting Services. Since hosting is primarily an intermediary function between the Content Owner (the "warehouse" in 169

6 FIGURE 2 HOSTING SERVICES ARCHITECTURE FRAMEWORK ONTENT OWNER, INFORMATION PROVIDER &a 7 I (7) I I 1 170

7 our analogy) and the end user, the topology of a Hosting Service needs to span the entire information infrastructure, from enabling Content Owners to package, test, and manage content, all the way to providing personalized look and feel to end-user. A natural home for Hosting Services, in light of these needs, would be within the domain of the network provider, or through an independent third party, in conjunction with the network provider. Hosting platforms can thus reside at central network facilities, managed by the network provider, or at remote host sites with high bandwidth connectivity to the network. Network providers may already have much of the expertise and capability to provide Hosting Services such as customer support, billing and account settlements, user authentication, security services, and management of large distributed databases. 5. Summary We have tried to show the importance of Hosting Services in making the information highway a successful business for the Information Providers and a beneficial experience for the Information Consumers. An environment that allows Information Providers to concentrate on the information content, and provides easy access to the consumer is the only way to make information services viable. Viable services, in turn, are essential for the information highway to thrive and be self sustaining. Existing information services are filling part of the gap between the raw information and the consumer, but much more needs to be done to create a robust infrastructure for providing end-users with transparent access to information. 171