Zur Information. Gruss, Manfred Dr. Manfred Reitenspiess Director Business Development RTP 4 Continuous Services Fujitsu-Siemens Computers Otto-Hahn-Ring 6 Muenchen D-81739 Germany Telephone +49 89 63642393 Telefax +49 89 63642393 Email mailto:manfred.reitenspiess@fujitsu-siemens.com Internet http://www.fujitsu-siemens.com -- RTP4CS -------- RTP 4 Continuous Services --------- RTP4CS -- -----Original Message----- From: Annabel.Bixby@newcastle.ac.uk [mailto:Annabel.Bixby@newcastle.ac.uk] Sent: Tuesday, October 01, 2002 7:55 PM To: Reitenspieß Manfred Subject: 'Proposed IP and NOE in Dependability' Dear Colleague This message concerns a proposed Integrated Project and Network of Excellence in EU FP6 on the subject of Dependable Computing Systems and Infrastructures. In the first years of the 21st Century several factors have combined to move computer system dependability, and in particular security and availability, to centre stage: (i) Dependability has been consistently mentioned as a foremost concern in all documents addressing the contents of FP6/IST (ii) There is growing intolerance of system failures, and of major overruns in system development projects. (iii) Major manufacturers have declared initiatives focused on improved dependability (e.g. Autonomic Computing [IBM, Sun, HP], LaGrande [Intel], Trustworthy Computing and Palladium [Microsoft], and TCPA [Compaq, HP, IBM, Intel and Microsoft]). (iv) There is a perceived major terrorist threat to the global information infrastructure and the various other critical infrastructures that depend on it. (v) Plans for eEurope, including eGovernment, require dependable computing systems of very challenging size and complexity. The setting-up of AMSD (the EU IST Accompanying Measure on System Dependability - see http://www.am-sd.org), and the ISDI (Information Society Dependability Initiative) Expression of Interest that was subsequently based on the AMSD Proposal, were motivated by such factors. To quote from the Project Summary, AMSD: "addresses the need for a coherent major Initiative in FP6 encompassing a full range of dependability-related activities, e.g. RTD on the various aspects of dependability per se, (availability, safety, security, survivability, etc.); education and training; and means for encouraging and enabling sector-specific IST RTD projects to use dependability best practice. It is aimed at initiating moves towards the creation of such an Initiative, via road-mapping and constituency and consensus building activities undertaken in cooperation with the groups, working in various dependability-related topic areas, who are already undertaking such activities for their particular domains." European industry and academia have particular strengths in dependable systems technologies. The demand for dependable computing comes at a time when the PC's role as the dominant hardware platform is itself under threat from increasingly powerful smartcards and other embedded system architectures, as the world moves along a path towards ambient (or pervasive) intelligent systems. These changes will create an opportunity for European industry to win a greater share of the software and systems markets, with consequent benefits to employment and wealth creation in the EU. Thus the IST programme in FP6 provides a unique opportunity for an initiative on system and infrastructure dependability that could have a real impact on EU prosperity and quality of life. Discussions with IST officials in recent weeks, and at a meeting in Brussels on September 17 and 18 with AMSD Advisory and Technical Board members and others (reported on in the AMSD web-site), and at immediately subsequent joint workshops of AMSD, ACIP and DDSI, and of EU/US researchers and officials concerned with system dependability and infrastructure interdependencies, together with indications that we have now received of the likely content of the FP6 IST Workprogramme, have: (i) confirmed the merits of the goal of achieving a co-ordinated coherent initiative encompassing the activities to be undertaken in FP6 that are centred on dependability (e.g. related to system security, safety, availability and survivability, to trust and confidence, and to critical infrastructure protection) and decided that this goal should best be approached through mutually-agreed co-operation plans among the various IPs and NoEs involved. (ii) agreed the desirability of creating an industry-led IP on Dependable Information Infrastructures and Services (DI2SIP). This would emcompass a programme of industrial and long-term RTD, education and training, encourgement of best practice, and technical policy support, aimed at facilitating the creation and deployment, in various industry sectors, of large scale ICT applications and services that demonstrably provide guaranteed and appropriately balanced levels of security, safety, availablility, survivability, etc. DI2SIP would centre its RTD activities on methods, tools, components and architectures for dependability, and on making a major contribution to the establishment of the warranted non-proprietary (open source) general purpose information infrastructure. It will include development of sector-specific application systems, for a small set of industrial and e-government domains, and of infrastructure interdependency models, as demonstrators. DI2SIP will be an "i! ntegrational" IP. By this we mean one that contributes to the goal of achieving an overall FP6 dependability initiative through both its nature and chosen aims, and by establishing overlapping work-packages with other IPs working in particular application domains, and on particular dependability-related technologies (e.g. cryptology, security protocols, software engineering, distributed systems, and embedded systems). (iii) agreed also on the merits of associating with such an IP an NoE on Dependability Foundations for Information Infrastructures (DEFI2) that would undertake a broad ranging program of interdisciplinary research aimed at providing far-reaching bases for the IP, and support for its programme of education and training. This it would do by contributing to the development of a coherent set of theories and rigorous methods that will serve as foundations for the establishment and exploitation of truly dependable global information infrastructures such as will be needed to underpin the future "ambient intelligent space", and of appropriate educational material. The DEFI2 research program will be comprehensive, bringing together teams who between them have expertise across: a) all four dependability means: fault prevention, fault tolerance, fault removal and fault assessment b) a full range of technical and human-machine interaction fault types, both accidental and malicious, at all system levels, but especially systems of systems and interdependent infrastructures. This will involve fundamental research of both a technical and socio-technical nature, However, the interdisciplinarity of the planned research will also be due to its plans for investigating the possible contributions of ideas and techniques from a number of other fields, such as complex system theory, immunology, economics, etc. (A common thread is the interest in analysing and making use of imperfect complex evolving discrete system models). Consequential on these decisions, we are now inviting all members of the RTD community who are interested in helping to define, and perhaps to take part in, DI2SIP and/or DEFI2, to submit brief Expressions of Interest, in the form of summary (at most three pages in length) work-package proposals. Such proposals would be welcome from industry and academia, and from partnerships that have already started planning relevant collaborative activities; and also from individual researchers. It would be helpful if pointers (e.g. URLs) were included to more detailed material about the work planned, and the experience and expertise of those concerned. These proposals will be collated and used, together with the results of AMSD's current work on producing an overall dependability road-map, embodying insights and recommendations from all the dependability-related road mapping projects, and information from the general IST survey of FP6 Expressions of Interest, to produce detailed initial draft descriptions of DI2SIP and DEFI2. These drafts will then be used in discussions with the proposers of other IPs and NoEs aimed at determining possible adjustments to the scope and goals of DI2SIP and DEFI2, and exploring potential mutually advantageous co-operations, and also with IST officials regarding how well the draft proposals fit with the FP6 instruments and objectives. In addition (for example with regard to open source infrastructure components, and interdependency modelling) we plan to discuss possible collaboration with researchers in the USA and elsewhere. As agreed during the September 17 and 18 meeting, Newcastle will take the lead for the initial definition of DI2SIP, and LAAS will take the lead for the initial definition of DEFI2. The work will be led by Tom Anderson and Brian Randell at Newcastle, and by Karama Kanoun and Jean-Claude Laprie at LAAS, who will work in close coordination. This letter requests that Expressions of Interest be sent to IPNoEDep@ncl.ac.uk an alias assuring automatic retransmission to the individuals concerned. The Expressions of Interest should be sent by October 21st, and state clearly whether they relate to DI2SIP or to DEFI2. A joint meeting, to discuss the scope of both DI2SIP and DEFI2, and to start the formulation of their detailed technical content, the identification of the likely initial membership, and the allocation of management and coordination responsibilities, is scheduled for November 25-27, probably in Pisa, with November 25 and the morning of November 26 devoted to DI2SIP, and the afternoon of November 26 and November 27 devoted to DEFI2. Please pencil these dates in your diaries. Invitations along with further planning for DI2SIP and DEFI2 will be sent out by 6th November. In the meantime, if you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact us; such enquiries should be sent to Jon Warwick, Jon.Warwick@ncl.ac.uk who is looking after the administrative aspects of our current efforts. On behalf of my colleagues, Yours sincerely, Tom Anderson Cc Max Lemke, European Commission Andrea Servida, European Commission