HR: 0800h
AN: IN51A-0315    [Abstracts]
TI: Interoperability between loose-coupled distributed resources and application across autonomous systems
AU: * Arrott, M
EM: marrott@ucsd.edu
AF: Calit2, Calit2 University of California, San Diego 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, ca 92093-0436 United States
AU: Orcutt, J
EM: jorcutt@ucsd.edu
AF: Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 9500 Gilman Drive, 0233, La Jolla, Ca 92093-0233 United States
AU: Chave, A
EM: alan@whoi.edu
AF: Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, Woods Hole, MA 02543-1050 United States
AB: The following is an example to illustrate the concept, possibilities and issues associated with the interoperability between loose-coupled distributed resources and application across autonomous systems. Take, for example, printing. If you are in your office (or home office) environment, it is likely that you select "Print" in your application, select a printer from the list of printers offered those "loaded" onto your computer, and your computer communicates directly with the selected printer to produce a paper copy of your document. If you are sitting in a coffee shop, however, selecting the same printer likely produces no immediate results. Imagine if, in contrast to the scenario just outlined, your selection of the "Print" command produced a list of printers available at nearby copy service shops (e.g., Ali's Copy & Print), public libraries and "friends you forgot you had." This list might include information regarding how far the printer is from your current location and how much you would be charged to print your document on it. Deciding that you'll gladly pay .30 cents to save a half mile walk, you select Ali's Copy & Print. Your system authorizes payment, Ali's Copy & Print authorizes service, and your document appears on Ali's printer, ready for pickup. This latter scenario requires the introduction of a layer of negotiation between producers and consumers of network services that is not available today. Rather than a resource consumer (your application) seeking to connect to a specific resource (your printer), a resource consumer presents a request for service which one or more producers offer to fill. The beginning and the end of the transaction remain unchanged: you select the print command and the system presents potential printers, and, eventually, your system presents a command to a printer: however, an intermediate negotiation takes place to determine the when, where who and how. The implication of this model is that, fundamentally, networks must shift from being collections of known resources to being confederated communities of potential resources. In other words, producers must be able to advertise their services, consumers must be able to present their needs, and the two must be able to reach an agreement on services rendered and payments received. Creating a confederated community of potential resources poses three basic technical challenges. First, collaborating parties in a service must be able to describe, identify and communicate themselves in manner that is mutually understandable. Second, parties must be able to establish trust that each are legitimate; potentially requiring mutually trusted third party verification. Third, parties must be able to govern negotiations and agreements in which they participate. This presentation addresses these three challenges in manner that provides a durable set of solutions, by investigate the following questions in the context of a loose-coupled distributed environment between autonomous systems: 1. Characterize the domain of the relationship between the resources offered by one autonomous system and the utilization of those resource by applications used in another autonomous system? 2. What models of interactions can be employed to support the domain of relationship? 3. What are the metrics for evaluating these relationships? 4. What changes the nature of the relationship between the resource and the application?
DE: 6620 Science policy (0485)
DE: 8199 General or miscellaneous
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
DE: 9820 Techniques applicable in three or more fields
SC: Earth and Space Science Informatics [IN]
MN: Fall Meeting 2005