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The Semantic Web: Finally Becoming Enterprise-Ready (continued)

Mixing and Mashing Disconnected Sources
Another example of corporate use of the Semantic Web involves "mash ups," or the act of bringing together and consolidating information from different online sources into a single integrated experience. For example, a technology company could mash up internally generated documentation with information provided by customers on a user forum to come up with a more comprehensive -- and user friendly -- source of data about products for customers. "In these forums, you have users helping users, and it adds up to these huge libraries of valuable information that companies can leverage to better serve all customers," says Abel. "The Semantic Web allows companies to integrate this information much more easily than a traditional database could."

Agrees Spivack, "You could think of the Semantic Web as a new kind of middleware in which you can do data integration without having to go through application integration."

For now, most corporations are making only limited forays into the Semantic Web. For example, many firms are using Semantic Web technologies internally but confine their implementations to information stored within the corporation, rather than venturing out onto the Web itself. "This turns out to be much easier than what people are struggling with in the larger world, because they have control over all the elements and don't have to worry about all the different technologies and standards that currently are competing with each other on the Web," says Fawsi. However, he predicts, "As standards begin to become established, that will change."

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