The need for transcoding is growing tremendously, as information on the web becomes more important and new ways are provided for people to access it. For example, many web pages contain large color images that cannot be viewed on palmtop computers, and XML data on the web often needs to be transformed into other forms of XML or possibly into HTML before it can be viewed. Transcoders are specialized programs for transforming information into different forms. For more examples and for additional information on transcoding, see Internet Transcoding for Universal Access . Transcoders can be used in many different ways.
Servers can transcode information before sending it to the client.
Applications can access networked transcoding services to take care of their information transformation needs. Or transcoders can be implemented as intermediaries, transforming information as it flows from the server to the browser or from server to server. WebSphere Transcoding Publisher can be deployed as a network intermediary. The extensible WBI intermediary backbone is combined with transcoding applications to produce a web proxy that can be used to transform images and text according to user, network, and device preferences. The WBI technology can host a number of different transcoding applications that can modify requests on the way to the web server or responses on the way back to the client.