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Technology & Software Overview Introduction UNISON the collaborative meeting experience™ is a meeting process that is supported by leading edge technology which links everyone in a meeting room together, via a computer network, using a CPU, LCD screens, a keyboard, a mouse and proprietary UNISON software, at each table. The following overview provides a description of our proprietary UNISON software, the supporting technologies, and the redundancy built into both. It will also cover the role of the onsite UNISON personnel. General Information UNISON technology operates as a client/server pair. At the front end, where the participants interact, is the 'client' component of the UNISON software. At the back end, where this interaction is managed, is the 'server' component of the UNISON software. Each CPU running the client software, communicates with the server (or cluster of servers) to retrieve and display content, or to store the participants' work. These communications occur over a highspeed wired (or in some cases, wireless) Local Area Network. To ensure the total system reliability necessary for time sensitive environments such as conferences, both the UNISON client and server software components, have been built with fault tolerance in mind. For example, UNISON employs protocols that do not require an "always on" connection. Therefore, the communications are resilient to temporary disruptions such as high traffic, physical disconnections or in the case of a wireless network, atmospheric interference. In addition, each client component monitors its own functions and detects potential problems before they become critical. If a problem is detected, a report is sent to the server before the problem could impact upon the work of participants. Self-righting mechanisms in the client software are designed to deal with any problems internally without interference to the participant. The client software transmits participants' work via the interactive interface back to the server for safe storage. This information is then available in the event of a failure. Server Software The server software is split into three sub-components: An interactive content server A database server A client communications server. Each component provides the same level of internal tolerances seen in the client software. In addition, these components are spread across a physical cluster of servers to avoid a single point of failure. Furthermore, the servers are isolated from power fluctuations by an uninterruptable power supply which provides enough operational power to shut down the servers and guarantee data integrity if a site power failure should occur. Servers For meetings of 100 to 6,000 plus participants or 20 to 600 plus client CPUs, the UNISON server software is mirrored across a variable size cluster of servers. This cluster works co-operatively to share the workload and, in the event of an individual server failure, assume its responsibilities, resulting in seamless operation. The ability to cluster the servers allows the system to scale its performance gracefully, providing a consistent level of responsiveness for the attendees, regardless of the number of participants, or client CPU’s or involved. Personnel Programmers/Operators Every UNISON driven meeting is supported by a programmer who has intimate knowledge of the UNISON software. The programmer is responsible for creating the graphical interfaces as requested by the process designer. The programmer/operator pushes the appropriate interfaces to the participants' CPUs and continuously monitors all activity, both client and server, using proprietary monitoring tools. In meetings where the content is complex, or if large numbers of client CPU's demand it, there are at least two programmer/operators monitoring and operating the system. Server and Network Engineer The server and network engineer is responsible for the optimum operation of the servers and network connections and acts as back up to the programmer/operator in meetings of less than 1,000 participants. Table Technicians Depending upon the size of the meeting, there may be as few as one, or as many as ten table technicians. The technicians are connected, via headsets, to the programmer/operator who is monitoring the operation of the system. In the unlikely event of a component failure of a table system, a technician will replace it with an equivalent unit immediately. If a CPU were to fail, the data inputted has already been captured and stored by the proprietary UNISON software. The table technician will retrieve this data once a successful swap out has occurred. Summary Redundancy in proprietary software, leading edge equipment and skilled personnel make UNISON the collaborative meeting tool of choice for process designers who want to raise the quality of meetings to the next level of interactivity and collaboration.