The Kerika software uses an open-source peer-to-peer networking technology called JXTA, that was originally developed by Sun Microsystems. Each computer in a peer-to-peer network can talk directly to any other computer, providing...

• It can figure out how to locate the other computers, and
• The other computers are not being blocked by firewalls or other mechanisms, such as Net Address Translation (NAT).

• When you use email, your computer acts as a client to a central email server that is maintained by your employer, school or ISP. All the emails that you send and receive, even to someone sitting just a few feet away, have to go through that central server. That's client-server.
• When you send an instant message, on the other hand, it goes directly from your computer (or cellphone) to that of your buddies. That's peer-to-peer.

• A central rendezvous server helps each Kerika user find every other Kerika user that happens to be online at the same time.
• A central relay server helps folks stuck behind firewalls reach the rendezvous server, so that you can string together what we like to call a people-to-people^TM network across organizational, network and geographic boundaries.

A common limitation of peer-to-peer networks is that you can only communicate with people who are online at the same time as you are. For example: your instant messaging buddies have to be online if you want to chat with them. This might be fine for casual communications, but we want Kerika to be a great tool for business and professional use as well, particularily for project teams that span timezones.

So, we built something we call the storage server which gives you the best of both worlds (peer-to-peer and client-server). If your buddies are online, your messages go directly from your computer to theirs without further delay. But if some of your buddies happen to be offline when you make changes to shared projects, the storage server automatically steps in to hold messages for your absent buddies.

We also made it easy for you to set up your own private storage server so that your files and other communications never leave a ring of trust consisting of your private server, your own machine, and the machines of your friends or colleagues.

The bottom line: Kerika is not just a peer-to-peer network, it's a people-to-people network.

Want to learn more?

• Read a whitepaper on JXTA (PDF document will open in new window)