Real Time Search Systems, Part 3
June 23, 2010
Editor’s note: This is the draft taxonomy of real time systems that I discussed in my June 15 and 17 lectures. It may or may not make sense, but I wanted to make clear that the broad use of the phrase “real time” does not convey much meaning to me. The partial fix, short of incarcerating the marketers who slap “real time” on their brochures, is to come up with “types” of real time information. The type helps make clear the cost and other characteristic features of a system sporting the label “real time”.
Stop and think about the difference in user expectations between an investment firm and a middle school child processing information. The greed mongers want to get the freshest information possible to make the maximum return on each bet or investment. The middle school kid wants to make fun of a teacher.
The greed mongers spend millions for Fancy Systems from Thomson Reuters, Exegy, or a similar specialist. The reason is that if the Morgan Stanley Type As get bond information a few milliseconds after the God loving folks at Goldman, lots of dough can slip through the clutching paws of the person responsible for a trade. With a great deal at stake, real time means in milliseconds.
The middle school wit is happy with whatever happens as long as the teacher remains blissfully ignorant of the message. If the recipient lets out a hoot, then there may be consequences, but the downside is less painful than what happens to the crafty Wall Street wonder.
The figure below presents the draft taxonomy. If you find it silly, no problem. If you rip it off, a back link would be a nice gesture, but I don’t have any illusions about how stateless users conduct themselves.
Where does the latency originate? The diagram below provides the tech sleuth with some places to investigate. The lack of detail is intentional. Free blog, remember?
So what?
Addressing “real time” means that quite particular issues must be resolved within the constraints operating on each implementation. Once there was a free lunch. Sorry. Those days are long gone along with the liquor companies that originated the idea.
Stephen E Arnold, June 23, 2010
Freebie
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