The Active Information System (AIS):
A Model for Developing Scalable Web Services

Sami Rollins, Robert C. Chalmers, Josep M. Blanquer, and Kevin C. Almeroth
Department of Computer Science       
University of California            
Santa Barbara, California 93016-5110
{srollins, robertc, blanquer, almeroth}@cs.ucsb.edu                

The World Wide Web has become a primary venue for disseminating information 
to large numbers of users.  From news stories, to music videos, to driving 
directions, more and more people are turning to the web to find information 
they need in their day-to-day lives.  As web-based services become more 
complex, the traditional web model is becoming insufficient.  There is an 
increasing demand for a model that supports large-scale, push-based data 
delivery combined with user-specific customization.  In this paper, we 
describe our model, the Active Information System (AIS).  The AIS is 
a model for web services that supports scalable information dissemination 
and dynamic user interaction.  We evaluate our model by illustrating its 
use in developing a scalable, realtime auction application with 
functionality far beyond what is possible today.