DISA selects e-records file management standard

WebDAV and Electronic Records Management

The Defense Information Systems Agency has selected software that uses an Internet open standard known as WebDAV for the document and file manager component of its global Defense Collaboration Tool Suite.

WebDAV, a standard created by the Internet Engineering Task Force, has capabilities for supporting electronic records management as an integral part of basic document and file management functions. In addition to its WebFile Server, Xythos Software Inc. offers a WebFile records manager.

Xythos officials, whose WebFile Server product was selected, made the announcement today.

"The clients that talk to our server are already on your desk," said Edward Miller, president and chief executive officer of Xythos. Although users may not realize it, the WebDAV client software is their Web browser, in Microsoft Corp.'s Office 2000 and XP, in the products of Abobe Systems Inc., and in many other desktop products.

From those desktop applications or from a Web browser, Miller said, users anywhere in the world can reach the Xythos WebFile Server using HTTPS or HTTP, the secure or standard versions of the Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

According to Xythos officials, the selection of their software comes as DISA moves away from a Microsoft-centric suite of collaboration tools to one based on openly published Web standards such as IETF's WebDAV and J2EE, the Java2 Platform, Enterprise Edition.

As a J2EE platform, the Xythos WebFile Server runs on Microsoft Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows Server 2003, Unix, Linux, Solaris, IBM Corp. Aix, Mac OS X and Java Virtual Machine servers. Its support for databases includes IBM DB2, Oracle beginning with 8i, Microsoft SQL Server 2000 and PostgreSQL beginning with Version 7.1.2.

Version 3 of the Defense Collaboration Tool Suite, which will include the Xythos WebFile Server, is scheduled for release and distribution this summer.