Why Is Flash Communication Server Needed?

The Flash Communication Server solves two very specific issues in the world of Internet-based communication:

• A development environment

• Technology adoption across platform and device

It solves these problems by connecting Flash players together and leveraging the sophistication of the Flash MX authoring environment.

The Flash Communication Server takes care of the communication "plumbing" and allows the developer to focus on quickly building communication applications that are easily integrated into a business or creative environment. The communication server provides the building blocks for Flash applications to communicate with each other using a standard object-oriented scripting language: ActionScript, which is based on JavaScript.

Flash Communication Applications are delivered using Flash Player 6, the most universally adopted software that has ever been produced. Flash Player 6 is available across all platforms and is supported by a growing number of mobile devices, such as the pocket PC. This acceptance and distribution breaks through a major barrier faced by any new application hitting the market for the first time. Developing applications that use Flash Player 6 lets developers focus instead on what is key ”the communication experience.

The SWF file format, which Flash Player 6 uses, is an open standard adopted by television and film production tools, 3D animation software, and now Internet-based communication technology. Flash Player 6 is the most universally accepted new release product ever with a 68% market saturation just six months after its release in May of 2002.

Macromedia has changed everything with the Communication Server. The company calls it a revolution, which is a pretty accurate description. The traditional client-server relationship of Internet applications was simple: Someone asked for something, and you gave it to them, as in HTTP and the client-request method. JavaScript allowed you to place data and logic on the client, autonomous from its origin. Databases and application servers made life easier by separating content from display logic. This brought on the content-management revolution.

In the early 1990s, the basics of Internet communication were just starting. There was messaging over the Internet, both live and offline, but they were not practical parts of web page concept. The arrival of streaming application servers and XML in the late 1990s changed the perception. The Flash Communication Server has just added another layer of complexity to everything, bringing about a fundamental change in thinking about Internet applications.

A New Paradigm for Communication

As humans , we want to communicate, but the machines that "enable" online communication are very "offline." So much technology has allowed us to talk not with each other, but with computers instead. Consider how you interact with your telephone's voicemail system: You use the keypad to enter a series of numbers , even though the technology supports voice input! The same is true of saving a name in your cell phone address book; you press 1 for a, b, and c, 2 for d, e, and f, and so on. So, why are we trying to be connected all the time if everything we use is offline?

In a Macromedia newsletter, the company's chief technology officer, Jeremy Allaire, describes the Flash player as a Trojan Horse. He describes delivering hundreds of millions of Flash 6 players to the market as "distributing several hundred-million next generation communications devices ”and just now turning it on."

To understand what he means, consider the recent trends in gaming and instant messaging. Battle.net enables game manufacturers to connect their games together, so humans can compete with humans regardless of location. Game consoles, such as Xbox and Playstation, will soon introduce network gaming and player-to-player voice communication through the game. This new technology will allow gamers to play a hockey match with a player somewhere else on the planet. Another indication of the communications shift is the popularity of instant messaging from AOL, MSN, and Yahoo!.

Such hardware devices as Cybiko (http://www.cybiko.com) target a consumer market with sophisticated communication technology wrapped in an interface that is easy to understand.

It is more than clear that we are starting to consider technology as a formidable means of communication. The Flash Communication Server is exciting for developers not only because it has already been adopted and distributed for you, but also because your time has been freed up to focus on delivering the messages of others in a more "human" way. It is now up to you to enable us to communicate in new ways.

So, get comfortable and get ready to be inspired!