The Hindu Business Line : Search sans clutter

A JUNIOR accounts executive in an ad agency recently had this problem: She was asked to come up with the market size of home appliances in the country, to include the data in a presentation. As usual, she did a search on Google, and browsed through available information. Somehow, the number was elusive. She knew that this particular piece of data was out there, but getting it at the right time proved a tough task. This kind of situation happens in every enterprise these days, thanks to the explosive growth of information in our digital age. Finding the right data at the right time is becoming a tough call for employees. In this context, content aggregation through RSS (RDF Site Summary or Really Simple Syndication) is taking off in a big way across the world.

RSS, originally developed by Netscape in the late 1990s, makes digital content suitable for syndication and aggregation and using tools known as RSS content aggregators, you can customise delivery of the information you want, thereby cutting out the clutter.

One of the latest developments in the rapidly evolving world of RSS is the launch of a new server that helps enterprises aggregate RSS content. Called the NewsGator Enterprise Server (NGES), this server was developed by US-based NewsGator Technologies Inc, which specialises in RSS-related technologies. NewsGator claims that the new server will address the issue of security and manageability concerns now associated with RSS tools.

The NGES will let users subscribe to secured internal RSS feeds from internal available systems as well as external sources to gather information available within the enterprises and outside. It will also provide synchronisation across interfaces such as desktop, mobile and the Internet. Users can also personalise RSS feeds for collaborating with workgroups and also for opportunity tracking, business and competitive information and project management. Personalised RSS feeds can be created by monitoring keywords and URLs.

The NewsGator server can also be integrated with Microsoft Exchange and Active Directory, which the company believes would provide a familiar user interface to employees. This feature will enable a user to have the RSS feeds in Outlook, Outlook Web Access, and other exchange-integrated applications without having to install any desktop client software. The server also has a feature to consolidate and reduce bandwidth consumption by periodically scanning each feed only once, regardless of how many users are subscribed, according to the company. Since it can be centrally deployed and managed, no client software or plug-ins are required.

"The enterprise is the next frontier for RSS, as millions of information workers globally seek easier means to find and track the most relevant internal and external data," said J.B. Holston, president and CEO of NewsGator, in a statement. "NewsGator allows these employees to track important internal and external competitive, brand and company information in a concise, organised manner, using the tools they are familiar with," he said.

The NewsGator server will be available in the third quarter of this year.

But it is not the only company developing such a product. It is reported that many software companies such as Microsoft are working on RSS technologies. Though use of RSS could be very nascent within corporates at this level, many experts believe that RSS could take off like instant messaging has done: from a personal tool, it has now become an enterprise-wide application. So more products like the NewsGator server should be on their way to market.

Picture by S. Siva Saravanan

vipin@thehindu.co.in

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