Infrastructure for Research towards Ubiquitous Information Systems

Abstract

The availability of fast, inexpensive computers and the growth of network technology have resulted in the proliferation of computing power and an enormous increase in information available in electronic form. However, most of the information stored on computers is extremely difficult for the common person to obtain. Thus, a central challenge for computer science and engineering in the next decade is to create the scientific and technological base for large-scale and easy-to-use information systems. These systems must work together in a coherent and cohesive manner, providing shared information easily for the general user. We refer to these systems as systems for ubiquitous information. The development of the National Information Infrastructure (NII) amplifies the urgent needs for research in this area. We propose to develop a new generation computing facility to support experimental research in ubiquitous information systems. The research to be carried out using this facility spans from the development of new technologies that support the rapid transmission of large amounts of data between computer systems to the development of more flexible and adaptable systems for human-computer communication. The proposed infrastructure will include emerging equipment with new capabilities critical to this new research, such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM) networks capable of guaranteeing performance, file servers capable of handling video, and graphics work-stations with advanced human interface capabilities. This equipment will supplement the basic computing and networking equipment typically found in computer science departments.