Geo–Replicator. Server to Virtual Server content replication.
Lite-weight read-only portals for remote offices.
Using Geo-Replicator in conjunction with Microsoft Internet Information Services (IIS) offers a solution to the problem of replicating corporate portal content to remote office environments where the installation and maintenance of a sophisticated server is impractical.
In this configuration, Geo-Replicator Server to Virtual Server provides a read-only replica of the portal content, which is made available to remote office local network users via Microsoft IIS. The portal can be a web-based application such as Microsoft SharePoint, a fileplan, or a simple folder based intranet.
Geo-Replicator’s replication technique involves taking snapshots of the portal content simulating the view of an end-user. Using minimal data updates for differential changes, Geo-Replicator keeps these snapshots up-to-date on a virtualized replica running on the remote office’s network; an IIS server on the same network provides on-line access to the virtualized replica for the remote office personnel. Infonic’s patented Epsilon compression algorithms and web virtualization technologies enable change data updating content on the virtualized replica to be compressed up to 90%.
Replicating portals in this way brings the advantage of simplicity of operation in the remote office. For example, in the case of Microsoft SharePoint, there is no need for any SharePoint Server implementation, but the end user’s view of the “virtualized content” is the same as if they were online to the SharePoint server. Access to the virtualized content may be restricted by configuring security on the IIS web site, or on the “virtual directory” maintained by the Geo-Replicator software.
Continuity of operation (COOP) is assured for the remote office, where the virtualized replica remains accessible to its local online users even when connectivity to the corporate portal is lost.
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Remote offices may be on land or at sea.
On land, a remote office may be a building in a part of the world that has limited or expensive connectivity with its head office; it may also be a mobile unit in the military, where a server is mounted on a vehicle, or where it may be situated in temporary accommodation such as a “tented city”.
At sea, where satellite communications are particularly expensive for commercial fleets, ships are being operated with smaller and smaller crews. At the same time, international practices are demanding more corporate information – such as Safety Manuals, Operating procedures, Security updates - to be made available on board; and ships’ personnel are asking for more information (such as world news, training materials, etc) to be made available for crew welfare and development.
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Remote workers can use central resources.
By replicating portal content to a virtual server, Geo-Replicator allows remote workers to continue using the resources of centralized portals like Microsoft SharePoint and receive updates to current data, even when they are far from their headquarters, with significantly reduced cost of administration overheads and tele-communications.
Note that the licensing for Microsoft SharePoint usage should be covered by each remote user having access to a Microsoft SharePoint CAL.
