Channels

A channel is a topic or identifier that acts as a conduit for related information. The channel carries the information from the publishers who created it to the subscribers who want it.

Channels have a name, description, subject, key words, and reference keys that are associated with them. Search facilities use this information in the Subscription Manager to help you locate channels that are of interest to you; they are also used in the administrator application to locate specific channels for administration purposes. Channels will also have subscribers that are associated with them.

Each association of a subscriber to a channel is a subscription. A subscription enables the information that is published to a channel to be delivered to the interested (subscribed) subscribers.

Administrators create a channel for each distinct topic or audience. For example, users of a particular application might want a channel for discussion and data exchange, while the programmers of that application might want another channel to discuss technical problems and future enhancements. Although the topic is the same application, the discussion and data exchanged will be very different; therefore two separate channels would probably best serve the needs of the two groups of users.