News & Announcements

Release of HANDLE.NET Version 7.2

CNRI released Version 7.2 in February 2013. In this version, handle servers can specify IPv6 addresses in their site information. The release includes other enhancements and fixes. See the Release Notes for the full list. Questions about upgrading should be sent to hdladmin@cnri.reston.va.us.

Release of HANDLE.NET Version 7.1

CNRI released Version 7.1 in July 2012. See the Release Notes for the list of changes..

Release of HANDLE.NET 7.0

CNRI announced the release of HANDLE.NET Software Version 7.0, a new version of the handle server code, in December 2010. This release constitutes a major upgrade to the system. See the Announcement, and the Release Notes for the complete list of changes. Questions about upgrading should be sent to hdladmin@cnri.reston.va.us.

Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR)

A new international coalition has announced the launch of the Entertainment Identifier Registry (EIDR), "a universal unique identifier system for movie and television assets". The EIDR Registry is built on the Digital Object Identifier (DOI^®) technology, which is an implementation of the Handle System. See the full Press Release for a description of the technology.

CNRI Handle Extension for Firefox

CNRI released a Handle Extension for Firefox on 18 February 2009. CNRI Handle Extension for Firefox "finds handles used as references in web pages, in a variety of formats, sends them directly to the Handle System for resolution, and gets back current information about the identified entity, e.g., current location. The results of that handle resolution are used to determine browser behavior, e.g., display the current version of a document even if it has been moved since the creation of the reference". This software, which can also be downloaded from 'Add-ons for Firefox', at http://addons.mozilla.org/addon/10820, replaces an earlier extension developed for the Mozilla application suite. Questions about the extension should be sent to hdladmin@cnri.reston.va.us.

Handle System Workshop

View presentations from the Handle System Workshop held in in Brussels, Belgium on June 17, 2008, a follow-on to the successful workshop held in 2007. The workshop addressed changes in the Handle System over the last year and highlighted new projects and innovative uses of the technology.

PILIN Project

The PILIN project (Persistent Identifier and Linking Infrastructure), a sub project of the ARROW II (Australian Research Repositories on line to the world) suite of activities, has published its final report. Creating a sustainable identifier infrastructure to deal with the vast amount of digital assets being produced and stored within Australian universities was the project's challenge. It was viewed by project participants as an opportunity to comprehensively test the needs and parameters of an identifier infrastructure, and it was decided to use the Handle System as core software.

HDL Plug-in for Adobe Acrobat^® and Acrobat Reader^®

CNRI has developed an extension for Adobe Acrobat and Acrobat Reader that adds functionality to PDF documents which are identified by embedded handles. When a PDF with an embedded handle is opened, the plug-in resolves the handle and performs tasks based on the expected standard data types and values returned from the Handle System. See HDL Plug-in (Ver. 1.5) for more information and to download the plug-in.

"Handle System to be used in UK DfES information architecture development project"

DfES, the UK Department for Education and Skills, and BECTA, the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, are working together to develop an e-strategy for UK schools and the learning sector that will further the development of a world-class education system and a skilled workforce. ...The 18 month project will produce a scalable working example of persistent digital identification (using the Handle System technology) with content policy, applied to a core sample of critical DfES and BECTA information.

[ Full text of Announcement. ]

"Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) announced the Handle System -- Globus Toolkit Integration Project", News Release, April 29, 2005.

"The goal of the Handle System -- Globus Toolkit Integration Project is to leverage CNRI's Handle System^® technology through GT's Web services' protocols. Many Grid deployments need ways to securely publish and find metadata about things like capabilities, policies, keys and other resources. These resources themselves have to be "identified." The attributes bound to the identifier have to be securely administered, so that anyone who knows the identity of the resource should be able to find its associated attributes; wherever possible, it may be desirable to access the resource itself."