Application based on Java technology displays data from diverse sources on disparate devices.

VistaPortal leverages its expertise in developing peer-to-peer strategies for solutions such as the U.S. Coast Guard's Waterways Information Network (WIN) initiative.

A VistaPortal application called VistaPoint supports a prototype for assessing the potential of the WIN. The proposed WIN system will allow government agencies, private industry, and public users to access navigation safety information through a peer-to-peer network without a centralized information hub. VistaPoint's Visualization, Reporting, and Filesharing environment is based on Project JXTA P2P protocols, Java, and XML technologies and will provide a unique, flexible framework for the system.

Based on Java technology, VistaPoint displays information from diverse sources throughout a distributed peer-to-peer network. VistaPoint incorporates peer-to-peer repository, query, reporting and charting tools, in addition to XML, to enable a diverse array of processes over the Web. The application can define linkages as well as heterogeneous peer-group data such as tables and charts, graphs and spreadsheets, graphics, and e-mail messages.

With VistaPoint, users can define whatever links and groups they require, with internal or external data, and drill down through multiple levels as needed. Additionally, a visual dashboard tool provides visualization and data analyses, with the ability to integrate data from multiple, distributed sources.

For users of emerging peer-to-peer networks, VistaPoint enables visualization and collaboration and creates persistent profiles. Visualization functionality incorporates graphs, charts, text, spreadsheets, and other data types for display, with drill-down capability. Collaboration capabilities let users organize and transmit unstructured, heterogeneous data to other peers on the network, anywhere they're located and to any Web-enabled device. The persistence lets users save data snapshots, create virtual reports, create user profiles, and watch trends over time.

Organizations such as the U.S. Coast Guard are moving away from centralized systems with single points of failure to a distributed data and communications model. They need to employ decentralized data sources, while often maintaining a centralized data repository, and distribute information by using peer-to-peer technology. They need to maintain data security and integrity but also incorporate the flexibility that Project JXTA technology provides across distributed networks encompassing multiple groups (and often, agencies) on a diverse array of devices.

Beyond the relatively simple messaging capabilities that are a characteristic of peer-to-peer networks, there is also a need for content creation and workflow management as users become more sophisticated and rely more heavily on these networks to provide the data they need, when they need it, on the device where it's needed. Organizations with these needs are turning to peer-to-peer architectures and applications such as those emerging from the Sun iForce initiative with software technology from companies such as VistaPortal.