Because of the diversity in third party scheduling applications deployed at any given corporate site, the ability to dynamically exchange information between different scheduling applications is essential for all corporate users. To address this need, CrossWind is participating in the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) Calendaring and Scheduling project currently underway. The scope of this effort is to provide standard protocols for the exchange of basic calendar items such as appointments, tasks and notes.

Web Technologies for the Intranet

Stepping back from the hubbub surrounding Web technology, we have found that the majority of our customers view the Intranet as a collection of promising new standards and technologies that will, for the most part, augment and empower--not necessarily replace--existing IT investment. Our product development plans are similarly pragmatic. Our product mission is to provide customers with the technology that fits in their environment, whether that means:

• a total Web-based solution,
• a native client solution,
• or a combination of the above.

We are shipping a full read/write HTML "client" that can be immediately deployed in any Web-capable environment, even in a mixed native/Web mode. We chose to start with HTML for two reasons: (1) it is immediately available technology that is robust enough for production deployment; and (2) it can be deployed on the majority of currently available desktops without requiring hardware upgrades as Java apps will.

To make the Intranet deployment straightforward and flexible, customers will be pleased to note that CrossWind has continued its practice of making all software binaries available for download right from this Web Site. Our customers can re-configure their environments at anytime. This means that Intranet roll-outs can happen at the pace and configuration most suitable for each organization.

For more information on Intranets and/or automatic notification of development updates go to our FREE whitepaper offer.