April 20, 2001, 10:01 AM — Dozens of U.S. government agencies have banded together to use a form of peer-to-peer
(P-to-P) technology to provide up-to-date statistics and other government information
to the public from a central location on the Web.
As many as 70 agencies have built a portal site that aims to provide the public
with fast access to facts and figures from agencies including the Department
of Census, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA). The portal was opened officially to the public this week and can
be found at http://www.fedstats.net.
The system will also allow the agencies to share data with each other in a
more efficient manner for the purpose of compiling government reports, said
Brand Niemann, a computer scientist at the EPA who helped develop the system.
The overall goal was to develop a cost-effective way for agencies to present
their most current data to the public and to find a more effective method for
sharing up to date government data among themselves, he said.
Instead of buying additional servers and hiring extra IT staff to set up and
manage the new system, the government looked to P-to-P technology as a foundation
on which it could build a solid file-sharing system that makes use of computing
equipment already in place, Niemann said.
"Nine months ago we said we wanted more than just categorized links,"
he said. "We wanted the actual data from each agency to stay where it is,
in the form it is in, but to be available at one location."
The system is based on a software platform called NXT 3 from Lehi, Utah-based
NextPage Inc. NextPage calls itself a P-to-P company, although it's model differs
somewhat from the file-sharing model popularized by companies like Napster Inc.
Government agencies are continuously updating statistical information stored
in their databases. Each time a user makes a request for data at the FedStrats.net
portal, NextPage's software automatically trawls the information from computers
at the agencies involved. The system uses XML (extensible markup language) to
make a user's searches more effective, according to Bruce Law, vice president
of corporate marketing at NextPage.
Not only the public benefits from the system. Government agencies compile reports
regularly that require them to gather up to date information from each other.
Previously, collecting that new information was done more or less manually each
time a new report was compiled. The NextPage software allows each agency to
create a "template" for the report it is creating, which automatically
gathers the relevant data from the other agencies at the time the report is
compiled, Law said.
The Bureau of Census, for example, compiles a statistical revue each year that
draws on information from numerous agencies. The Bureau of Census can now create
a template that defines where each agency's data should fit into its statistical
revue. When the agency compiles its report, the system gathers the newest information
from other agencies and assembles it using the template.
The NextPage software can handle a variety of file types, such as Microsoft
Corp.'s Word or Excel, and automatically formats those files for access over
the Web, Law said.
Overall, the system should help end users gain access to government data in
a more efficient way than before, and improve the efficiency with which the
agencies share their data, according to Niemann of the EPA.
Niemann would like to see the software used more widely within the government.
Eventually, federal workers should be allowed to upload new data from the road
using handheld computers and other gadgets, and that information should be available
to the public instantly.
In addition to government institutions, NextPage said its software has been
used in the legal, accounting, banking and insurance industries.
