Rich Internet Application - Definition

Also known as RIA, Rich Internet Applications are the expected next iteration of software development. Combining the strengths of Web and desktop applications, RIA's can capitalize on the trend in high speed and wireless Internet connections and the performance of local file system and processing access. RIA's also offer much richer user-interface options other than the standard HTML widgets available to browser-based Web applications. "Richer" functionality could be "Drag and Drop," using a slider to change data, calculation that happens on the client (e.g., an insurance rate calculator) and do not need to be sent back to the server, etc.

Currently Macromedia, Inc.[1] (http://www.macromedia.com) is leading the way to RIA development with tools such as Flash[2] (http://www.macromedia.com/software/flash/), Flash Communucations Server[3] (http://www.macromedia.com/software/flashcom/), Central[4] (http://www.macromedia.com/software/central/) and Flex[5] (http://www.macromedia.com/software/flex/).

However RIA's can be built using almost any development language or IDE. Microsoft's Visual Studio.NET[6] (http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/) is one example, although it is still very much seperated between the desktop client-server world and the Web application world. Microsoft's next user interface description language (called XAML) is supposed to also follow that route. Though not having yet kicked off, SVG is a promising technology, as it is an open standard set by the W3C.

RIA's typically:

• install and update over the network
• behave like "locally installed" applications
• run locally in a secure environment
• can be “occasionally connected” wandering in and out of hot-spots or from office to office
• have support for securely accessing the local file system
• have support for remote file upload and download