P1005-PF

Project Information

What is this Project about

Our vision of the next step of the networked information society is that billions of small, intelligent devices will be equipped with spontaneous networking capabilities and have access to any information and provide access to any service "on the net". This vision is commonly referred to as "Ubiquitous Computing"; today’s mobile phones and PDAs, connected to the Internet, are first predecessors of this emerging new world.

The major technical challenges for network operators in this context it to evolve today’s global networks, essentially offering connectivity and client/server-oriented services, to what is known in computer science as distributed systems. These systems will cross the boundaries of networks (POTS, GSM/UMTS, wireless LANs, Internet, etc) and interconnect new types of "terminals" (Smart Phones, PDAs, and various other small, networked devices).

This will result in completely new security situations that must be solved and requires the fundamental building blocks of state-of-the-art IT technology, like interworking objects, and the corresponding middleware must be turned into Telco-grade technology allowing to offer services in a secure and consumer-friendly way to customers.

JINI is currently the most promising technology to build this new world of networked computing communities upon, therefore this proposal concentrates in first place on JINI and related technologies.

The Project started in January 2000 and is due to conclude in June 2001.

Objectives

The primary goal of the Project is the evaluation and advancement of the enabling technologies for the above-mentioned visions. In particular the Project aims at:

identifying and evaluating the potential of spontaneous networking technologies like JINI for network operators
providing the basic technological building blocks that allow network operators to take advantage of these technologies, in particular with respect to secure and safe use in large-scale telecommunication operators' settings
actively participating in related research and development activities to bring in telecommunication operators’ requirements and interests
providing demonstrator systems that show how spontaneous networking technology can be used and prove the suitability of solutions developed in this Project
finding a consensus between as many of the European telecommunication operators as possible, on the measures needed for successful deployment of JINI-aware devices on the network

The expected clients of this Project are:

managers wanting to locate spontaneous networking in the current telecommunication operators' landscape

technical people wanting to know how to apply current spontaneous networking and security technologies to services

vendors willing to share the needs expressed by the telecommunication operators in this area

Project Results
please note that the deliverables labeled "(VOID)" were not delivered, either because the results have been merged into other documents or because of changes in the project objectives and plans

Deliverable Title	No	Planned issue date
Technical Information - JINI State-of-the-art: an operator's perspective	D1	published
Technical Information - Operator specific security requirements for ubiquitous computing	D2/TI1	published
Technical Information - Security Components and Services	D3/TI2	published
(VOID)	D4	cancelled
Technical Information - Integration of Small Devices into IT Infrastructure	D5/TI4	published
Technical Information - Deployment of Jini services in an insecure environment	D6	published
(VOID)	D7	cancelled
(VOID)	D8	cancelled
Showcase/Demonstrator	D9	Security and Fraud Workshop
Experiences and Conclusions	D10	published Jan 02
Secure Service Access in Future Networks	D11/TI3	published