[Twisted-Python] Why Zoteca Uses Twisted
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1 Twisted 1.1 Open Source Advantage Zoteca believes that Open Source software provides a considerable business advantage. Many parts of any software platform are generic, and not restricted to the task at hand. Using Open Source software for these components allows us to concentrate R&D resources on our core competencies and proprietary advantages, while still using an underlying technology that is unparalleled in terms of cost, flexibility, scalability and robustness. 1.1.1 Open Source Saves Money The costs for development for Open Source components is spread out over a number of organizations and multiple developers. As a result, for every person-year of investment on our part, we receive tens of person-years of development in return, at no additional cost. 1.1.2 Open Source is Flexible Open Source development allows us to cooperate with organizations and individuals from other industries, bringing ideas and knowledge from many different fields of competency to bear upon our common infrastructure needs. This development process takes advantage of orthogonal synergy between different industries' software requirements. Hence the resultant software is far more generic and flexible than had it been developed for one specific use. Of course, total access to the underlying source code also allows customized changes for particular applications. 1.1.3 Open Source is Scalable and Robust Developers on open source projects are not engaged in an intellectual exercise nor are they removed from the application space of the software under development. They are developing the software for their own use for real needs. They are not only developers, but users and testers as well. Hence the resultant software is far more field-ready and scalable to real-world applications than proprietary alternatives. The multiple environments the components are used in, also ensures that they are robust and relatively bug free. Being cross-platform is the icing on the cake. 1.2 Twisted Network Server A prime example of this Open Source approach is the Twisted network server. Twisted is written in Python, a cross-platform, high-level object-oriented programming language. Twisted includes a web server, a telnet server, a multiplayer RPG engine, a generic client and server for remote object access, and APIs for creating new protocols and services. Twisted is being developed and used by individuals and organizations from across the world, for uses ranging from massive multiplayer games to streaming audio servers. Some of Twisted's advanced features include: * Abstraction layers for protocols and transports, allowing design of servers that transparently support multiple transports (e.g. TCP and SSL). * Pluggable event loops, supporting integration with GUI toolkits and platform-specific event loops (e.g. wxPython, Java or Unix/Win32 specific APIs). * Multiple protocol support inside a process, allowing cross-protocol applications, integrated web control panels, etc.. * A metrics system supporting centralized collection of protocol and process statistics. * Perspective Broker, a powerful, asynchronous and efficient remote object protocol, which can also be used from Java. * Integrated event-based and threaded programming, using the Async/Half-Async design pattern. The use of Twisted and Python has had many benefits for Zoteca when developing our software: * Low cost of development, since basic infrastructure needed by any network server is built in to the platform. * Cross-platform and platform specific support (Twisted, and thus Zoteca's servers, can run and take advantage of the Unix, Windows and Java platforms). * Flexibility and speed of development, allowing easy customization of the software. * Wide scale testing of low-level infrastructure in a variety of situations. * The ability to customize and enhance Twisted to support additional functionality. 1.3 About Zoteca Zoteca has developed a new, patented, proprietary technology which provides reliable, available, private and secure ("RAPS") data sharing in networked environments. Zoteca's mission is to create a family of product toolkits, which integrate into customized versions of data sharing applications. These Zoteca-based products provide RAPS services to end-users --- both businesses and consumers. In current networks it is nearly impossible to achieve reliability and accessibility simultaneously --- hence the constant shuffling of data between centralized servers and the organizational edge. Similarly the more private and secure networks are, the less efficient data sharing becomes. Zoteca creates spaces where individuals and groups share data in a total RAPS environment, simultaneously efficient (R & A) and safe (P & S). The core of our innovation involves decoupling computing entities (data, files, etc.) from specific physical computers or locations, thereby eliminating single point of failure. By using distributed protocols, redundant and immutable data stores, sophisticated authentication schemes and encryption techniques, we address the problem at the infrastructure level, allowing us to offer guaranteed levels of service in terms of the four RAPS dimensions. For more information about Zoteca and our products, please visit http://www.zoteca.com.
participants (1)
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Itamar Shtull-Trauring