There
are two basic implementation formats for
i-Spi :
A
"rich internet application"
using only a Java plug-in on the clients.
In this environment the client PCs do
not have an application installed as such
or a any local database. They use a standard
internet technologies (HTTP) to access
the application on a central application
server. The database can reside on the
same system or on another server. Further
benefits of this environment are the ease
of support and the minimal requirements
in terms of client PC configuration.
Using
an installed client where the java application
runs on the client PCs. In this format
the system can be configured to maintain
an automatically updated local reference
database in order to reduce the traffic
between clients and the server. There
is also a version update facility so that
clients are automatically updated with
the latest version of the application
from the server. Because of the level
of functionality on the individual desktops
in this environment there are some minimum
requirements for PC configurations. These
need to be observed in the context of
other applications running on the client
PC.
