The Internet Engineering Task Force has officially released its standardised version of the WebSocket protocol as RFC 6455. WebSocket is a method of providing bi-directional, full duplex over TCP between clients and servers — the main intention being between web clients and servers.

The RFC says that previous implementations of client and server communication involved an abuse of HTTP to poll the server for updates, while sending upstream notifications as distinct HTTP calls, and that WebSocket is designed to supercede existing bidirectional communication technologies that use HTTP as a transport layer.

WebSocket’s security model is specified as the Web Origin Concept, which was also released today as RFC 6454.

Leaving the world of specifications, Geelong picked up $100,000 from the Victorian State Government’s Innovation Through Clusters program. Examples of organisations that could use the money included Barwon Health and Deakin University.

In times as they are, Geelong should be thankful for the cash in a period of belt tightening — but at only $100k, it does leave me wondering how much will be left once a senior sysadmin or a few graduate workers are hired.

Do you think that a government grant of $100k is enough to develop an industry in an area? Let us know in the comments.