MACROMEDIA FLASH MEDIA SERVER 2-DEVELOPING MEDIA Develop Manual page 25

Understanding shared objects
The two basic types of shared objects you can use when you create media applications are local
and remote.
You can think of local shared objects as "Flash cookies": they let you save data to a user's
computer for off-line access, or for saving preferences. Local shared objects are a feature of
Flash Player and do not require Flash Media Server.
Flash Media Server manages remote shared objects (which have the file) and provides
messaging, data synchronization, and data storage services. Flash clients connect, or subscribe,
to a remote shared object and receive updates whenever a change is made to that shared
object. Also, messages can be sent to all clients connected to a remote shared object. A remote
shared object can persist across application sessions, or be temporary.
Client 1 Client 2
Server
Shared objects provide data storage and synchronization services for clients.
For more information on how shared objects work, see "Understanding shared object flow"
on page 34, "The SharedObject class" on page 52, and "About shared object files" on page 82.
About streams and shared objects 25