Establishing the Internet Information Age

Our high technology world has been experiencing an information explosion at an enormous rate. Current estimates indicate that the volume of available literature is doubling every two years. The technology for management and delivery of that information has been undergoing a similar revolution - a revolution fueled by the ability to digitally transport information at very high rates over very long distances at very low cost. This expansion of information and advancement of technology has created a marketplae. A marketplace whose infrastructure is the internet. A marketplace to which information sellers and information consumers are flocking. A marketplace whose elaboration is stifled by the existing commercial structure. Information consumers have come to this marketplace from such diverse market segments as transportation, entertainment, manufacturing, and health care. These consumers are often not well served by the existing commercial strucutre. The program we propose is one which seeks to break the current multi-service system and replace it with one that includes an information integration component. In recent F-22 and ARPI related efforts, ISX and Unisys have formed a successful team. To date our projects have focused on the development and demonstration of KQML as a standardized transport and communication protocol for data from distributed heterogeneous databases. Our previous efforts have included demosntrated feasibility through prototype development. in this program, we will utilize previously demonstrated primitives to construct a realizable produce that will enhance and improve data access to existing databases by the legal and medical community. Anticipated Benefits: Anticipated benefits include the increased effectiveness and productivity of legal and medical professionals, potential decrease in costs for medical and legal services development of a new service industry and associated jobs, and advancement of the state of the art of heterogeneous database systems.