Thin client access to a visualization environment

In this paper we present a thin client system that provides Internet access to a modular visualization environment. The communication protocol for this system is designed so as to minimize the data exchanged among the server and the clients. An XML format is introduced for communicating visualization related information. Users of the system may collaborate to perform complex visualization operations and share files. The results of each operation are cached so that they may be used by the same user in a later session or by other collaborating users. Experimental performance results demonstrate the efficiency of our system when compared with commercial general purpose solutions.