Texar's s-peer application allows users to be in control of how their computer resources are shared with others. Using a sophisticated policy-based scheme based on a robust security toolkit, s-peer used digitally signed user identities, encrypted communications between peers, and data validation and integrity to increase the security of P2P communications in an enterprise.
Since two of the top three business questions about P2P tend to revolve around security and centralized control, Texar has also implemented a hybrid solution for enterprise management. Administrators can be notified whenever a file is touched or alerts can be incorporated into an administrative workflow.
The company is a member of the Peer-to-Peer Working Group and its subcommittee on security. In addition, they are working with Sun's JXTA project, doing much of the work on JXTA's user authorization module. Texar will be announcing a new release at O'Reilly's P2P Conference in Washington, DC in September. The release will feature more community features as well as a firewall traversal solution.
There's more on other P2P companies and their applications
in Part 2 of CTOMentor's peer-to-peer white paper:
Peer-to-Peer Computing and Business Networks:
More Than Meets the Ear, Part 2 – How Are Businesses Using P2P? Part 2 is available at
MindCrossing
for a fee of $50. Part 1 - What is P2P? is available for free at
CTOMentor.
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