Kudos Software

Designer	Runtime	Distributor	Observer	Analyzer	Enterprise

Distributor

Providing fresh, updated content to your customers is an important feature of running an effective kiosk network.

A rich and customized experience at every terminal can now be achieved using Distributor. With Scheduled or automated delivery of packaged applications irrespective of bandwidth to individual or groups of kiosks, Distributor ensures targeted content at every terminal.

Kudos Distributor is designed to detect the minimum amount of information required for kiosk updates, a feature which greatly enhances the speed of updating your remote terminal network.

All updates are stored in a database and applications under development can be automatically checked in and checked out to avoid accidental overwriting when multiple developers are working on them. Kudos Distributor provides centralized content management functionality for users developing Kudos applications with version and source control.

Features
The following features of Kudos Distributor provide a flexible, secure and stable system to manage your remote terminals.
Application Repository All applications are stored in a repository database. This creates a simple and consistent way of managing and controlling development and maintenance of applications. Versioning Multiple versions are stored in the repository for each application. Each remote terminal can have a specific version of each application assigned to it or subscribe to receive the newest version automatically. Kudos Distributor uses versioning to create optimized update patches to distribute to terminals. Check In/ Out To modify an application, the user needs to check out the application from the Kudos Database, and then check the application in after the desired modifications are made. This functionality prevents overwriting of applications when multiple developers are working on them. Attributes For each remote kiosk, dynamic attributes can be created on the server and are used to group the remote terminals by location, specific properties or configurations, or customize the Kudos Applications running on the client side. Nested Grouping Nested groups can be created with unlimited depth to manage the remote kiosks in a hierachical tree structure. Dialup Support Remote kiosks may be configured as either 'true-push terminals' or 'smart-pull terminals'. When operating in true-push mode, the server initiates a connection to the terminals when data is needed. In the smart-pull mode, ther terminal itself always initiates communication between the itself and the server. The smart-pull option is particularly useful in dialup scenarios when the server doesn't know how or when to open a connection to the terminal.		Automated Distribution Applications can be distributed automatically whenever a new version is checked in, so that remote terminals receive new updates of content the instant a new version is available. Scheduled Tasks Application updates can occur manually or be automatically triggered by an event. Kudos Distributor integrates with Windows Scheduler to provide scheduled distribution of content, installation, activation, or un-installation of Kudos Applications. Patching When a new version of an application is checked into the repository, it is possible to create update pathces from the previous version to the new one. Patch creation is supported at the file level as well as the byte level. Windows Installer Packages Kudos Distributor supports installation of third party software packages. The industry standard Windows Installer format is used to implement the functionality, allowing all packages to be stored in a compressed format, saving space and reducing bandwidth requirements. HTTP Communication Kudos Distributor uses the Kudos Enterprise transportation infrastructure to send content to the remote terminals. This infrastructure utilizes the HTTP protocol to send and receive messages between remote terminals. Guaranteed Delivery When Kudos Distributor sends content down to remote terminals, the content is installed before confirmation of successful installation is sent back to the server. If a network connection is unavailable, all events are queued until the system is on-line. Firewall Support By using HTTP communications, Kudos does not require specialized ports in the firewall, but uses the standard port 80.