<s>
Wide	B-Protocol
Area	I-Protocol
Information	I-Protocol
Server	I-Protocol
(	O
WAIS	O
)	O
is	O
a	O
client	B-Operating_System
–	I-Operating_System
server	I-Operating_System
text	O
searching	O
system	O
that	O
uses	O
the	O
ANSI	O
Standard	O
Z39.50	B-Protocol
Information	O
Retrieval	O
Service	O
Definition	O
and	O
Protocol	O
Specifications	O
for	O
Library	O
Applications	O
"	O
(	O
Z39.50:1988	O
)	O
to	O
search	O
index	O
databases	O
on	O
remote	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
WAIS	O
did	O
not	O
adhere	O
to	O
either	O
the	O
standard	O
nor	O
its	O
OSI	O
framework	O
(	O
adopting	O
instead	O
TCP/IP	O
)	O
but	O
created	O
a	O
unique	O
protocol	O
inspired	O
by	O
Z39.50:1988	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TMC-produced	O
WAIS	O
servers	O
ran	O
on	O
their	O
massively	O
parallel	O
CM-2	O
(	O
Connection	B-Device
Machine	I-Device
)	O
and	O
SPARC-based	O
CM-5	B-Device
MP	O
supercomputers	B-Architecture
.	O
</s>
<s>
WAIS	O
clients	O
were	O
developed	O
for	O
various	O
operating	B-General_Concept
systems	I-General_Concept
and	O
windowing	B-Application
systems	I-Application
including	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Windows	I-Application
,	O
Macintosh	B-Application
,	O
NeXT	O
,	O
X	B-Operating_System
,	O
GNU	B-Application
Emacs	I-Application
,	O
and	O
character	O
terminals	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
TMC	O
released	O
a	O
free	O
open	B-Application
source	I-Application
software	I-Application
version	O
of	O
WAIS	O
for	O
Unix	B-Application
in	O
1991	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Inspired	O
by	O
the	O
WAIS	O
project	O
on	O
full-text	O
databases	O
and	O
emerging	O
SGML	B-Language
projects	O
,	O
Z39.50	B-Protocol
version	O
2	O
(	O
Z39.50:1992	O
)	O
was	O
released	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
With	O
the	O
advent	O
of	O
Z39.50:1992	O
,	O
the	O
termination	O
of	O
support	O
for	O
free	O
WAIS	O
by	O
Thinking	O
Machines	O
and	O
the	O
establishment	O
of	O
WAIS	O
Inc	O
as	O
a	O
commercial	O
venture	O
,	O
the	O
U.S.	O
National	O
Science	O
Foundation	O
funded	O
the	O
Clearinghouse	B-Application
for	I-Application
Networked	I-Application
Information	I-Application
Discovery	I-Application
and	I-Application
Retrieval	I-Application
(	O
CNIDR	B-Application
)	O
to	O
promote	O
Internet	O
search	O
and	O
discovery	O
systems	O
,	O
open	O
source	O
and	O
standards	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
CNIDR	B-Application
created	O
a	O
new	O
,	O
free	O
open-source	B-Application
WAIS	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
the	O
first	O
freeWAIS	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
wais-8-b5	O
codebase	O
of	O
TMC	O
,	O
with	O
a	O
wholly	O
new	O
software	O
suite	O
Isite	O
based	O
upon	O
Z39.50:1992	O
using	O
Isearch	B-Application
as	O
its	O
full-text	O
search	O
engine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ulrich	O
Pfeifer	O
and	O
Norbert	O
Gövert	O
of	O
the	O
computer	O
science	O
department	O
of	O
the	O
University	O
of	O
Dortmund	O
extended	O
the	O
CNIDR	B-Application
freeWAIS	O
code	O
to	O
become	O
freeWAIS-sf	O
with	O
structured	O
fields	O
as	O
its	O
main	O
improvement	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Ulrich	O
Pfeifer	O
rewrote	O
freeWAIS-sf	O
in	O
Perl	B-Language
,	O
becoming	O
WAIT	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
GILS	O
(	O
based	O
upon	O
Z39.50:1992	O
with	O
some	O
extensions	O
)	O
became	O
a	O
U.S.	O
Federal	O
mandate	O
as	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
Paperwork	O
Reduction	O
Act	O
of	O
1995	O
(	O
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
model	O
of	O
searching	O
for	O
(	O
WAIS	O
)	O
servers	O
to	O
search	O
became	O
the	O
model	O
for	O
GILS	O
and	O
Peter	O
Deutsch	O
's	O
WHOIS++	B-Protocol
distributed	B-Architecture
white	O
pages	O
directory	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Public	O
WAIS	O
is	O
often	O
used	O
as	O
a	O
full-text	O
search	O
engine	O
for	O
individual	O
Internet	B-Protocol
Gopher	I-Protocol
servers	O
,	O
supplementing	O
the	O
popular	O
Veronica	B-Protocol
system	O
which	O
only	O
searches	O
the	O
menu	O
titles	O
of	O
Gopher	B-Protocol
sites	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
WAIS	O
and	O
Gopher	B-Protocol
share	O
the	O
World	O
Wide	O
Web	O
's	O
client	B-Operating_System
–	I-Operating_System
server	I-Operating_System
architecture	I-Operating_System
and	O
a	O
certain	O
amount	O
of	O
its	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
WAIS	O
protocol	O
is	O
influenced	O
largely	O
by	O
the	O
z39.50	B-Protocol
protocol	O
designed	O
for	O
networking	O
library	O
catalogs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Gopher	B-Protocol
provides	O
a	O
free	O
text	O
search	O
mechanism	O
,	O
but	O
principally	O
uses	O
menus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
Gopher	B-Protocol
Space	I-Protocol
is	O
a	O
web	O
containing	O
many	O
loops	O
,	O
the	O
menu	O
system	O
gives	O
the	O
user	O
the	O
impression	O
of	O
a	O
tree	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Web	O
's	O
data	O
model	O
is	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
gopher	B-Protocol
model	O
,	O
except	O
that	O
menus	O
are	O
generalized	O
to	O
hypertext	O
documents	O
.	O
</s>
