Lightstreamer 3.5 Has Been Released

I am happy to announce that Lightstreamer Server v.3.5 is now available, together with updated versions of all the development kits (including Lightstreamer Web Client v.4.3).
Download new Lightstreamer distribution now

How to Upgrade Your Licenses

If you own Production, Development/Test, or Demo licenses, you need to get new license files. Consider that most of the licenses generated in the last few months are already compatible with Lightstreamer Server v.3.5. If you find that your current license needs to be updated, please contact info@lightstreamer.com.
If you own Free Moderato licenses, you need to get new license files through the online license generator.
If you own an Evaluation license, you don't need to do anything and you can keep on using it until its normal expiration.

More Demos & Examples: a Sneak Preview

The new Lightstreamer distribution contains several new pre-installed demo applications, which are focused on different aspects of Lightstreamer and are a handy starting point for the development of real applications.
You can take a look at the new demos before installing Lightstreamer, by visiting the online welcome page (after installing Lightstreamer, you will get the same page and applications on your machine).
You will see that different application domains are covered (including finance, monitoring, and messaging) and clear source code and documentation is provided for each of the applications, which are kept extremely simple, to the point of not requiring any application server to run.

Multiple Data Adapters & MultiMetapush

It is now possible to use multiple Data Adapters as part of the same session. When a Client creates a Lightstreamer session, it specifies the Adapter Set to use, which is made up of a Metadata Adapter and one or multiple Data Adapters. Then, for each individual Table subscription, the Client will be able to define which Data Adapter should be used.
This feature will simplify the development of applications that gather data from different sources and feeds. A typical example is a Stock Portfolio application. There is usually a data source providing the updates on the Portfolio contents (what and how many stocks enter and exit the Portfolio) and a different data source providing the real-time market prices. Combining the two feeds within the same application is now straightforward, not only because the two Data Adapters can be included in the same Adapter Set, but also because the two levels of subscriptions can be directly managed by a new Client feature. MultiMetapush, available for both the Web API and in the Flex API, implements a direct support for so-called "two-level push". In other words, it is possible to have a subscription to a COMMAND item through a Data Adapter, which controls what subscriptions should be done through another Data Adapter. Easier to see than to explain... Just take a look to the new Portfolio Demo, which has been reimplemented using this new paradigm.

Parallel Adapter Loading & Monitor Adapter

All the Data and Metadata Adapters are now loaded in parallel, instead of sequentially, resulting in a faster and more robust start up of Lightstreamer Server.
The built-in Monitor Data Adapter can now be included in any Adapter Set, to provide real-time information on Lightstreamer Server's status to third-party clients. This means it is now possible to develop custom administration consoles. A good starting point is the provided Monitor Console Demo.

More Robust Adapter Remoting Infrastructure and .NET Adapters

A new Proxy Adapter has been added to the ARI (Adapter Remoting infrastructure), which will improve many existing .NET Adapters too. The RobustNetworkedDataProvider is a new version of the Proxy Data Adapter that includes the management of the unavailability of the Remote Data Adapter. This helps decouple the life cycle of the Server instance from the life cycle of the Remote Adapter instance.

Heuristic Algorithms to Push Real-Time Data Under Any Condition

Pushing live data to any Web browser, running on any device, connected through any kind of network infrastructure, can be a pain. Lightstreamer has always been able to adapt to any external conditions to bring the data to the clients. Now such heuristic algorithms are even better.
Smart polling, as an alternative to streaming when the Stream-Sense algorithm detects that there are anti-virus proxies blocking the data flow, has been extremely optimized, to the point that the user's experience is now very similar in the two modes (streaming and smart polling). The packet dimensioning heuristics has been improved, to send the data efficiently across very close bursts of poll requests. The new default poll mode is now purely asynchronous, so that the polling cycles follow each other with no artificial pauses.
If the JavaScript engine of the browser cannot keep the pace of the real-time updates pushed by Lightstreamer Server, due to poor hardware performance (e.g. on older mobile phones) or to CPU overload caused by other applications, Lightstreamer will automatically slow down. Less but still fresh updates will be sent at the proper frequency, leveraging the auto-throttling behavior offered by the smart polling mechanism.
The 2-connection limit of HTTP 1.1 is an old memory. The engine migration algorithms of Lightstreamer are now even faster and more reliable. You will see your Lightstreamer connection bounce among different tabs of your browser without ever saturating the connection pool. Try to open multiple instances of the provided demos to check this out.

More Consistent Update Callbacks Across the Client SDKs

The update events passed to the custom client code are more consistent across the different SDKs. In particular, "unchanged" values can now be automatically expanded. For this purpose, the new HandyTableListener has been added to the Java SE, Java ME, and .NET SDKs.

...And Much More!

Many many other features and fixes have been included in this release of Lightstreamer. Please read the change log carefully to gather detailed information on what's changed.
NOTE: Lightstreamer Server v.3.5 maintains full backward compatibility with previous Clients and previous Adapters.

Visit Us at AJAXWorld 2008 West

Lightstreamer will be a Bronze Sponsor of AJAXWorld RIA Conference & Expo 2008 West. You can visit our booth at the Fairmont Hotel in San Jose, California, from October 20th to 22nd.
Furthermore, Lightstreamer has passed the preliminary tests of the OpenAjax Alliance 2008 InteropFest, demonstrating that its JavaScript libraries can produce correct OpenAjax Metadata. The InteropFest will be held on October 23rd (restricted to OpenAjax Alliance members only).
Look forward to meeting you!

Sincerely,

Alessandro Alinone
Chief Technology Officer