DSS provides expert software design, system implementation, and
professional services,
specializing in Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris, and other Unix platforms.
Our areas of expertise
Distributed systems: several computers doing something together
Software tools: programs that are valuable in the production of
other programs
- Client/Server Architectures
DSS builds web-based applications and systems,
does Apache web server installation, configuration, and customization,
and has experience with CGI, server-side processing,
JavaScript/AJAX, PHP/Perl, XML technologies (HTML, CSS, RSS),
automatic web page generation, and related technologies.
- E-Security, including PKI and SSL
DSS
has hands-on design and implementation experience with the
Secure Sockets Layer (SSL),
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI),
and data security technologies,
including cryptography.
- Systems Programming
DSS has extensive experience with systems programming
(including the kernel, commands, and tools) on many Unix-type platforms
and provides service for
GNU and other free
software that falls within our areas of expertise.
What we do
DSS provides system implementation, project management,
and consulting services related to:
- Authentication, authorization,
and single sign-on methods and technologies
For Linux/Unix, Apache, InfoCard/CardSpace
- Computer networking and communication
protocols
Including Internet standard protocols, such as TCP/IP and UDP,
other standards-based protocols,
and development of custom protocols
- Fast prototyping, platform-independent and
cross-platform software
Applications using scripting languages, like Tcl/Tk, Perl, and PHP;
Unix and Windows platforms
- Creating and customizing "small", embedded,
and special-purpose programming languages
DSS has many years of experience developing parsers, compilers,
translators, and interpreters for all kinds of purposes
- Directory systems, including X.500,
LDAP, Active Directory
Distributed systems built around directory technology
- Computer systems and network communications
performance analysis
- High-performance and special-purpose distributed
systems and databases
Including lightweight and small footprint databases and systems
requiring scalability, reliability, availability, atomic transactions,
or replication
DSS's main product is DACS
(the Distributed Access Control System), a fully supported, open source,
light-weight single sign-on system that provides extended authentication and
access control capabilities for Apache and web-based services.
DACS web services and commands can be used
by application software, scripts, server software, and CGI programs for
authentication and authorization checking functionality.
DACS is a key component of Canada's
National Forest Information System (NFIS)
and has been deployed by several other government agencies.
DSS is responsible for the design and implementation of
DACS, which has been the company's main focus
since 2001.
Additional information about DACS
is available at dacs.dss.ca.
For information about tdbm,
an embedded high-performance database,
please visit its microsite at
tdbm.dss.ca.
Other projects we are investigating or actively working on include:
- Development of a fast parser and validator for
RELAX NG Compact Syntax,
XML document validation from its RELAX NG Compact Syntax specification,
and automatic generation of C/C++ encoders and decoders from a
Compact Syntax specification
- General-purpose XML parsing tools with a C/C++ API on top of
Expat,
XPath 1.0
- A light-weight, efficient, and easy to use non-preemptive threads package
- A univeral "server server" that among other things allows almost any
TCP-based server,
even those running on a private network or firewalled network,
to be accessible from the Internet
DSS is also involved in the design and implementation of
the Dxstore Database
System, an open source database for Linux, FreeBSD, and other systems.
(This project is currently in hibernation.)
Open source software
and technical papers
A variety of
open source software is available.
Although some of it is now very old, many packages continue to see regular use
on a wide variety of platforms.
Some older technical papers
on distributed databases, directory services, and other topics
are also available.
About DSS
Incorporated in 1996 and privately-held,
DSS can bring an uncommon amount of knowledge and
experience to almost any distributed systems project, as is clear from the
company's unusually varied list of specialties and exceedingly deep background
in many areas.
If you have any questions or would like additional information,
please contact us.
