HTTPStream platform – low latency data for the web

Abstract

Timely delivery of information and live updates are of paramount importance in our connected society. Despite its tremendous penetration and wide acceptance, the Web failed to move to the next level and provide the means for changing the way sophisticated applications are delivered to the users. One of the major issues is its inability to provide low-latency (real-time) data and notifications to web applications with frequent data changes. In this paper we present the HTTPStream platform which aims in delivering lowlatency data to web applications utilizing generally accepted web principles. The platform is based on the concept of establishing a permanent connection between the server and the client by “trapping” the server response into a nonended loop and utilizing it to stream fresh data to the browser. The HTTPStream server complements conventional web servers by handling only the low latency data. © Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2008.