Towards Dependable Networks of Mobile Arbitrary Devices - Diagnosis and Scalability

Abstract

After a period of explosive, unmitigated growth, the web is ready for the second chapter of the Internet revolution, namely, the support of pervasive (ubiquitous) computing where dynamic change, flexibility and on-demand components and services configurability will be expected.. While consolidation, emerging maturity and survival of the fittest will rule at the corporate level, the web with virtually billions of devices attached to it and trillions of bytes of data will have to transform into an information, knowledge and remote control utility available to unprecedented numbers of novice as well as mature users anywhere, anytime. To lay out a foundation for this challenge the dream of adaptive, maintenancefree, self-relying systems must become a reality as public dependence on those systems will continue to rise and there will be insufficient human resources to continually support and maintain the computing/communication infrastructure. It is argued that this goal can only be achieved by addressing first the problems of scalability and fault detection and isolation (fault diagnosis) followed by a rapid recovery, mainly by the use of, for example, hierarchical partitioning and consensus.