REAL-TIME CLIENT/SERVER PUSH STRATEGIES
To understand the strategies inherent in "Push" technology, it is essential to comprehend fully what constitutes Push technology.áá Most observers and analysts see the technology as the logical extension of the interactivity of the Web as oppose to the passivity of TV and other forms of mass media (Hoffman & Novak, 1995,1996; 1997; Paone, 1997; Stone, 1997; Wilder & Hibbard, 1997).á This push model was a paradigm shift attributed to the 1995-1996 era when TV and Radio, with their one-way message stream to consumers was replaced with techniques of information delivery to a many-to-many interchange between and among firms and consumers.
The simplest way to understand client/server protocols and strategies is to recognize it for what it is; specifically, the logical extension of modular programming, which, it will be recalled, operates on the primary assumption that a large piece of software can be separated into its constituent parts, or "modules."á Modular programming allows for easier and faster development and more efficient maintenance.
Client/server computing (CSC) proceeds to the next logical development with the realization that all modules do not have to function in the same memory space.áá
This becomes a bi-directional upstream/downstream relationship with the "client" becoming the part that calls for the service, and the unit that delivers the service or need called the "server."
The benefit of such a division is that, since both clients and servers have different needs, they will run more efficiently on different platforms.á For example, DBMS servers run best on platforms specifically engineered and configured for queries while client file servers run on platforms with special elements for managing files.
áááá In the purest sense, "client" is also a program that sends a message to the "server program" requesting that a server perform a specific task.á If t...