The Digital Thread is a system of metadata and patent-pending algorithms that allows users to track and manage documents as they move through disparate systems, including e-mail, hard drives, servers, removable media—and even non-subscribers’ machines. When a document is saved on any subscriber’s machine, the NextPage service starts weaving the Digital Thread by embedding a small amount of opaque metadata. The embedded metadata are like the file's DNA. They allow the service to determine whether and how any two files are genetically related. As the document evolves through its chaotic lifecycle, each version becomes attached to the Digital Thread. This enables the document’s identity to survive location and filename changes as it travels through a multitude of different systems and across organizational boundaries. At any time, people working on the document can see an accurate picture of its progress. The Digital Thread resides in two main components: the NextPage Client Service and the NextPage Global Service. The Client Service assembles an accurate picture of document flow by analyzing genetic relationships between documents that reach users’ computers. It is loosely coupled with the NextPage Global Service, which delivers many of the system’s essential awareness, versioning and document control capabilities. | 
