Abstract: Apparatus and method are disclosed for selecting multimedia information, such as video, audio, graphics and text residing on a plurality of Data Warehouses, relational database management systems (RDMS) or object-oriented database systems (ODBA) connected to the Internet or other network, and for linking the multimedia information across the Internet, or other network, to any phrase, word, sentence and paragraph of text; or numbers; or maps; charts, and tables; or still pictures and/or graphics; or moving pictures and/or graphics; or audio elements contained in documents on an Internet or intranet web site so that any viewer of a web site, or other network resource, can directly access updated information in the Data Warehouse or a database in real time.

Abstract: According to the present invention, an externalization service method for managing objects and state data related to the objects is disclosed. The present invention provides a method whereby objects with references to other objects can be stored in streams and can be referenced across processes, while maintaining the original object characteristics and relationships. The present invention is an extension to the existing Common Object Request Broker Architecture (CORBA) specification for externalization and can manage objects without the inherent limitations of known externalization methods. The objects of the present invention are managed by an object reference manager (reference manager) which is capable of storing and using state data and other object-related data to manage objects and the references to other objects. This information includes all information that is necessary to restore the object's characteristics, security access, state data, etc. when the object is recreated.