Engineers Voice

Like plastics, computers and the Internet before it, nanotechnology will change the world in ways that we can’t even imagine now. That’s how powerful the nano-world will become. And like the paths of those earlier “big ideas,” nanotech is just beginning to roil the surface–giving investors another chance to beat crowd.

But what exactly is “nanotech”? Read more »

The Oracle JDBC drivers use two different mechanisms to generate log output. Versions of the JDBC drivers for older versions of Java, 1.2 and 1.3, use a proprietary mechanism. Versions of the JDBC drivers for newer versions of Java, 1.4 and later, use the Java standard logging mechanism, java.util.logging This paper describes how to use java.util.logging with the Oracle JDBC drivers. The paper shows all the tools a person needs for most purposes. java.util.logging is a powerful tool with lots of switches and knobs.

Berkeley DB Java Edition is a 100% native Java, high-performance transactional database. It was designed to be functionally compatible with the ubiquitous, open source Berkeley DB and architecturally compatible with Java applications. This paper presents the design and implementation of Berkeley DB Java Edition (JE), focusing on how it provides fast, reliable storage services when embedded in applications that run in a JVM. JE uses a log-structured disk representation for its database objects, avoiding unnatural marshalling of objects onto pages. The combination of object-level caching and log-structured storage permits fine-grain latching and record-level locking for highly concurrent applications.

Choice Hotels International has eight brands that combine to offer more than 5000 lodging options open or under development worldwide. Though satisfied with its use of Vicinity, Choice Hotels wanted to completely reevaluate its website location solution to ensure it can meet current and future customer needs. Tapping the power of Microsoft Web Service, Choice Hotels developed a comprehensive website location solution across all eight of its hotel brands.

The Oracle Service Delivery Platform is a J2EE-based realization of the OMA Service environment (OSE). Enablers, which are key building blocks of reusable functionality that expose standard interfaces, are a central architectural principle underlying the implementation of the Oracle SDP. Enablers bring to the Telecom and service provider domain a number of well understood lessons in the IT domain, such as encapsulation, abstraction, standard APIs and reuse. As such, relevant out of the box enablers along with a general purpose enabler framework are absolutely central to getting traditional IT and enterprise developers excited about network-centric applications. The Oracle SDP provides both such enablers as well as an enabler framework that allows 3rd parties to build their own enablers.

The demand for converged services, combined with the convergence between wireless and fixed networks (e.g., broadband) emphasizes the need to move away from silo-based architectures and instead rely on a horizontal, standards-based platform that enables convergence - enter a standards-based Service Delivery Platform (SDP). Oracle is a leader in this standardization effort and the Oracle Service Delivery Platform is a realization of the OSE based on Java EE (formerly known as J2EE). J2EE has been enormously successful as a platform technology that has fundamentally changed the way Internet-based applications are developed. This white paper provides an overview of the Oracle Service Delivery Platform vision and the role of J2EE in the realization of this vision.

There are several techniques that can be applied for verifying and confirming a user’s identity. They can be broadly classified as something the user knows, such as a password or PIN; something the user has, such as a smart card or ATM card; and something that’s part of the user, such as a fingerprint or iris. The strongest authentication involves a combination of all three. The technology used for identification of a user based on a physical characteristic, such as a fingerprint, iris, face, voice or handwriting is called Biometrics.

This white paper discusses the changing landscape of IT security and suggests areas wherebusinesses should re-examine their processes. The paper concludes with a series ofquestions that provide guidelines for evaluating competing security solutions.

Biometrics have become a popular means for access control and authentication. As the processing power of embedded systems has grown, efforts have been made to perform biometrics locally on constrained devices such as smart cards. This paper presents the design and consumer application of a portable fingerprint biometric authenticator with the form factor of a key dongle (as an alternative to biometric smart cards). The paper describes a device which combines both biometrics and embedded system authentication into a portable authenticator. The device contains a fingerprint sensor, a 32-bit RISC microcontroller, a Bluetooth wireless transceiver, and memory in the form factor of a key dongle.

Client-level security is important to the integrity of the entire perimeter. Companies are aware of the technology and benefits and have begun to adopt biometric authentication. The best practice is for every company to examine its fence lines and mend the breaks. The technology is mature and affordable and ready for adoption. Your world will be a safer place if you implement client-level security.