Re: Non SemWeb uses of RDF

Hi Brian,

I work for DRKW (an investment bank). Our team is using RDF to
integrate global operations data into a searchable knowledge
base. We've had a lot of success so far, and the venture is already
adding value.

For example, we have integrated the global cisco network database with
server inventories from the unix and windows server teams, and with
the global personel directory.  
This merged data enables high quality impact analysis when e.g. a
network switch fails: by running a simple sparql query it can bring
back a list of servers and applications effected by the failure, and
give a list of contacts that manage those servers and apps. This
simply wasn't possible before.

Of course this could also be done using a big relational database. A
big benefit of RDF we've found is that you can dump the data together
first, and then join it up with heuristics (e.g. switch port has same
MAC entry as server NIC etc..). I suspect that this is an
order-of-magnitude time saving compared with doing static schema
design up front.

Cheers,

Phil

Brian Manley writes:
 > 
 > All,
 > 
 > I'm fairly new to RDF, and I'm curious to learn the level to which RDF is being adopted in non semantic web related applications. I find references to its use in bioinformatics, library science, knowledge management and other areas. But what I'm not seeing is much use of RDF in business applications (enterprise or SMB) , consumer-focused applications ( PIMs, personal collection management, etc ) or even systems integration products.
 > 
 > If it is being used, can you site some examples? If it's not being used much outside of the SW movement, why do you think that is?
 > 
 > Any insight would be appreciated.
 > 
 > Regards,
 > Brian
 >

Received on Saturday, 18 December 2004 13:10:05 UTC