The Path Towards Pervasive
Computing
A Network Approach
Michel Burger
Embrace Networks
February 14th, 2002
Page 1
Agenda
 Pervasive computing definitions
 Stages for pervasive computing
 Emergence and convergence
 Multiple devices to collection of devices
 The user redefined
 Evolution of a web system
 Conclusion
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 2
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Definitions of pervasive computing
 Pre-web definition (before 1997-98)
 Numerous, casually accessible, often invisible computing devices
 Frequently mobile or imbedded in the environment
 Connected to an increasingly ubiquitous network structure
 Post-web definition
 Numerous, casually accessible, often invisible network access devices (dumb or smart)
 User as a network component accessible from anywhere
 Instant or casual access to network services delivered by a smart network
 Industry specific definitions
 For wireless people everything is wireless
 For communication people everything is about communication
 Tailored and non holistic view of pervasive computing
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 3
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Example: 1994 Ubiquitous Computing
Mainframe era
many share a computer
PC era
one computer, one person
Internet - Widespread Distributed Computing
a transition
Ubiquitous Computing
many computers share each of us
The Internet and the Web are not just a transition to the next era but a complete
transformation of how computing and network services are perceived and used
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 4
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Three stages of pervasive computing
 Multi Channel Delivery
many Devices, many Contexts (one per channel)
 Cross Channel Delivery
many Devices, one Context (available to all channels)
 Impromptu Networking
any Devices, one Context as an Aggregation of many Services
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 5
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Emergence and convergence
 The devices
 Small and/or smart devices
 The networks
 Connection everywhere
 Many levels of networking: fixed (home, enterprise and wide) and wireless (close, medium and far)
 The application infrastructure
 Frameworks for distributed computing
 Frameworks for cross channel delivery
 Service proliferation with programmatic interfaces (XML, and objects)
 The user experience
 PC has been well accepted
 Wireless devices are being accepted
 Emergence of network and interactive TV
 Emergence of voice recognition as a network service
The web was the convergence of graphical user interface, simple network protocol
HTTP, and simplified version of a formalization of document structure HTML
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 6
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
From multi-channel to cross-channel
Many different and unrelated contexts
A single context using the most appropriate channels for
the most appropriate experience
Now
©2001, Embrace Networks
Future
Page 7
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Access to the context is dynamic
transition
reduction
expansion
Device come and go
Devices act as bridge between contexts
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 8
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Today access is channel specific
User in context
Devices
Networks
For each user experience
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 9
Services
For each service
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Tomorrow access is in two steps
Trust Level Agreement &
Service Level Agreement
Virtual Identity
A Service Level Agreement
that defines the best devices
for the best experience
Services
User
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 10
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Evolution of a web system - I
Web
Server
Client
yesterday
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 11
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Evolution of a web system - II
Transaction
Server
Web
Server
Rendering
Server
Client
yesterday
©2001, Embrace Networks
Client
today
Page 12
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mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Evolution of a web system - II
 Independence of development between
the business logic and the rendering
Transaction
Server
 Simplification of the state
Web
Server
machines
 More dynamic content as an
aggregation
of the business
logic and rendering
operations
Profiling and advertisement added at
the rendering level
Rendering
Server
 Scalable solution
Client
yesterday
©2001, Embrace Networks
Client
 Invisible revolution for the end
user
today
Page 13
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Evolution of a web system - III
Context
Real
time
Transaction
Transaction
Server
Server
Transaction
Server
Server
interaction
Server
User
Web
Server
Server
Rendering
Server
Client
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Server
Server
Server
Server
Client
Client
Client
Client
Client
yesterday
©2001, Embrace Networks
today
emerging
Page 14
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Evolution of a web system - III
 Multi channel to cross channel
Server
Server
transition
 Notion of user based services
 Calendar, address book, wallet…
 Experience profiling,
 Unbranded network service
profiling
 Projection of the user at the network
for permanent presence
Context
Real
time
Transaction
Transaction
Server
Server
interaction
User
Server
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
level
Server
Server
Server
Server
 New business creation:
User Service Provider
Client
Client
Client
Client
emerging
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 15
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
The user component details
Virtual
Identities
Web service
profiling
Trust level
agreement
Presence
management
Calendar
Shopping
cart
Address
Book
User
Wallet
Buddy list
Decision
maker
List of
reference
Shared
files
©2001, Embrace Networks
User services
Brand/Look&Feel
aggregation
Experience
profiling
User
identification &
authentication
Web service experience
Device input
(localization, mood….)
Device
registration
Page 16
Device experience
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Evolution of a web system - IV
Context
Context
Context
Real
time
Transaction
Transaction
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
Server
interaction
User
User
Server
Service
Service
Server
Type:
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Server
Server
Server
Server
Client
Server
Server
Server
Server
Client
Client
Client
Client
Client
Client
emerging
©2001, Embrace Networks
Client
transactional
interactive media
informative
tomorrow
Page 17
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Evolution of a web system - IV
 Dynamic system (impromptu
networking) transition
 Dynamic aggregation of services
and
users initiated by the users,
the context or the
services
 From a context point of view
leverage the users and
the services
 The solution are inherently multiservices
and multi-users
 The network becomes a place to deal with services and
to meet people
Context
Context
Server
Server
User
Service
Service
Server
Type:
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Rendering
Server
Server
Server
Server
transactional
interactive media
informative
 New business creation:
Context Service Provider
Client
or (Abstract Estate Provider)
Client
Client
Client
tomorrow
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 18
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Conclusion
Pervasive computing leads to the creation of an Abstract Reality made of Actors, Contexts and
Channels:
 Actors are producers, consumers or manipulators and represent the Services or the Users
©2001, Embrace Networks
 Channels are the links between the abstract and physical
Devices
reality and represent the
 Contexts are what is known at any point of time about the
the relationships between them
actors, the channels and
Page 19
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Questions ?
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 20
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Background Slides
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 21
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Web Service Evolution I
Web service
Client
Transaction
Rendering
Server
Private
interface
Transaction
Server
©2001, Embrace Networks
Server
Look Up
or
Registry
(UDDI)
Public interface (WSDL) using
SOAP
Page 22
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Web Service Evolution II
Web service
Content
semantic
description
Transaction
Server
Ontology
Rendering
Server
Mediator
Transaction
Server
Example
Globalization
ontology
Look Up
/
Registry
(UDDI)
Public interface (WSDL) using
SOAP
Programmatic
Brand/look&feel
Client
Web
service
Look up
/
Registry
Public interface
Feature
Level agreement
(FLA)
©2001, Embrace Networks
Page 23
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Web Service Evolution III
Public interface (WSDL
using SOAP)
Web service interface or proxy implementing
the interface is added to the context
Context
Server
Web
service
Look up
/
Registry
Public interface to dynamically
add and remove web services
Look up
/
Registry
Public interface (WSDL) using
SOAP
©2001, Embrace Networks
Web
Service
Page 24
Web
Service
Web
Service
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Web service canonical form
Legend
Producer
Control
Content
Filter in/out
Web service
0-n
0-n
Transcoder
Transcoder
Transcoder
Transcoder
in/out
in/out
in/out
in/out
Transcoder
in/out
Filter in/out
Filter in/out
Filter in/out
0-n
Web service
Webservice
service
Web
Web
service
Web service
Aggregator
in/out
Canonical elements
©2001, Embrace Networks
0-n
Producer
Producer
Producer
0-n
Aggregator
Aggregator
Aggregator
in/out
in/out
in/out
A web service as a combination zero or more of each of
the canonical elements and zero or more web services
Page 25
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml
Evolution of the computing model
Actors
/ Hewitt
SmallTalk VM
Influences:
DBMS
DBMS
Spreadsheet
Spreadsheet
WordProcessor
Processor
Word
Telnet
Telnet
FTP … Services
FTP … Services
HTTP HTTP
SMTP SMTP
Disk OS’s
TCP / IP
Device Drivers
(disk,
tape, serial)
(disk, tape,
serial)
Device Drivers
©2001, Embrace Networks
Network Devices
(3Com,Cisco,
Cisco,...)
(3Com,
...)
Network Devices
Oberon
/ Wirth
Xerox
/ Cedar
Miror World’s
/ Gelertner
Santa Fe Inst.
/ Holland
Business
Logic
Business Logic
Non-Imperative
Non-Imperative
Logistics
Logistics
Objects + Agents
Java+Jini
Java VM
Java RMI
Devices/ /
Devices
Basic
Basic Services
Services
(implemented as as
(implemented
objects)
objects)
From 1950’s
From 1980’s
Emerging now
Disk-Centric Computing
Net-Centric Computing
Object-centric Computing
Page 26
Simulations
Constraints
Knowledge
Genetics
ab Search
Michel Burger
mburger@embracenetworks.com
Michel Burger mburger@embracenetworks.coml