Guest editor's introduction to the special issue on activated and programmable internet: converging technologies for internet based active and programmable systems

摘要

Over the last few years a number of paradigms have emerged on the converging theme of the activated Internet. Paradigms trace back to vastly different origins, but converge on the unifying theme-where the Internet is not only a large network but also a confederated computing and communication platform. The spectrum ranges from grid networking, content services networking, active and programmable networks, sensor computing to the very recent autonomic computing. One of the earliest, Active networking aims at new network layer protocol services by adding full programmability to network devices. Programmable networking is exploring how the existing protocols on internetworking devices can be further exploited by making their features programmable via open interfaces. Internet-based application services is a recent debutante in the arena yet perhaps the most significant because of its vast commercial prospect. It has recently toppled the Web as the leading consumer of backbone bandwidth. Research in active proxies is opening a new horizon for such services. Grid computing is also making a leap targeting scientific (and perhaps business computing) over massive number of networked computers, supercomputers, and massive storage. The latest autonomic programming envisions the internet as the ultimate computing platform where resources can be adaptively congregated, used, and dismantled—all based on services' need.