Communication hyperlinks: Call me my way

This paper presents the concept of a new kind of communication mechanism that we call a communication hyperlink. Using Web mechanisms, communication hyperlinks propose a new communication paradigm by putting back the asymmetry of the Web in the communication world: as a communication end-point, you decide how your correspondent may join you, without giving out any private information, and you provide the caller all the needed communication resources, without the need on his side for any credentials or account information. Since communication hyperlinks can take the form of a simple URL, they can be sent/retrieved using any media, from office documents to Web sites or blogs. When a user clicks on a communication hyperlink, all necessary resources, stored as software components or configuration data on the server, are downloaded and activated - without any need for installing additional software or creating any account for the caller. The paper describes the model and reference architecture implemented for the experimentation of these communication hyperlinks. Considerations on a running experimentation of this approach and associated business possibilities are given.