“A STEP ABOVE”

It seemed like the right thing to do at the time. We started a company called Invisible Worlds to try and create an "Internet Atlas." That broad goal morphed into a series of protocols created by Marshall Rose and released as Internet-Drafts. The company also was funded by a client to release an open source toolkit to encourage developers to use the new protocols.

While the company did not succeed in gaining traction, the specifications and toolkits are still available and a thriving group of open source developers is beginning to think about how to extend and implement the protocols. These efforts are currently hosted on beepcore.org and form the underpinning for our Core Technologies Program.

Extensive information is available on the Blocks architecture and its key components:

• The core layer is the BEEP protocol, defined in RFC 3080, in an essay by Marshall Rose, and in the forthcoming O'Reilly & Associates title, "The BEEP Book."


• APEX is a "relay mesh" that builds on top of the core BEEP protocol. A series of Internet-drafts discuss the core service, a presence service, an access service, and a publish-subscribe service.


• ANTACID is a replication service that builds on top of the core BEEP protocol. Internet-Drafts describe the service and protocol.