Da CaPo++ : communication support for distributed applications

Abstract

As the variety of applications, especially distributed multimedia applications, explodes, their requirements on communication-relevant tasks increase. Besides a communication architecture for dealing with traditional communication protocol processing, multicast features and security requirements have to be considered in an integrated manner. Therefore, a multicast-capable and security-aware communication subsystem is developed to provide necessary functionality to support an integrated set of reuseable application elements, e.g., audio/video-presentation, application sharing, picture phone, extended WWW browser, tele-banking, or tele-seminar. The main goal includes the provision of a real-world application framework, where different traditional and emerging applications can be managed modularily. Their needs and communication demands in terms of Quality-of-Service (QoS) attributes are specified by numerical values, e.g., bandwidth requirements, delay boundaries, reliability issues. Furthermore, functional features, such as multicast groups, encryption desires, or authentication requests can be selected. In turn, the developed communication subsystem allows for the preparation of flexibly adjusted communication protocols that provide requested functionality, e.g., error control schemes, multicast addressing, encryption, or authentication. Finally, a best suited service for these application requests is offered.