TSSG Projects in the Sixth Framework - World-Class Telecommunications Research in the South-East of Ireland
11-25-2004
By: Diarmuid McIntyre
Given that the thrust of their research at the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) at Waterford Institute of Technology is now firmly focused on the profound shift in the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) industry and the promise of a new kind of seamless and pervasive computing that this shift will bring, their successes in the latest round of European Commission's research funding known as the sixth framework or FP6 couldnt have come at a better time.
Owing its existence to Dr. Willie Donnelly and his colleagues Eamonn De Leastar and Mícheál Ó Foghlú at the Institute, the TSSG was established after an initial proposal for European Commission funding was accepted in 1997. Six years later the group can claim a turnover of over nine million euros; successful transition from the Commission's fifth to sixth framework research funding streams; and over forty-five full-time staff working on the campus.
Our success in FP6 demonstrates a shared understanding, at the European Commission level, of the direction that mobile communications is set to take, says Donnelly. This is reflected in the new research projects that we have been granted funding for.
The portfolio of FP6 research projects at the TSSG includes SEINIT an Internet security project; DBE a project aimed at providing Europe with a recognized advantage in innovative software application development by its SME industry; DAIDALOS - Designing Advanced Interfaces for the Delivery and Administration of Location-independent Optimised personal Services eProc and most significantly, CREATION an integrated project which will be co-ordinated by the TSSG itself.
DAIDALOS
Daidalos (Designing Advanced network Interfaces for the Delivery and Administration of Location independent, Optimised personal Service) will develop and demonstrate an open, scalable and seamless architecture of heterogeneous network technologies; based on a common network protocol (IPv6), to allow users to enjoy a diverse range of personalized services - seamlessly supported by the underlying technology and transparently provided through a pervasive interface.
DBE
The overall objective of the DBE (Digital Business Ecosystems) project is aimed at providing Europe with a recognised advantage in innovative software application development by its SME industry, launching a distributed technology paradigm for the creation of a digital business ecosystem for SMEs and software providers, thus improving their value network.
The kick-off meeting, with 70 people present, provided a forum for researchers from very different disciplines to come together and understand different viewpoints of the proposed research.
The project is the largest ever EU funded open-source project: 150 person-years of work is planned across 20 organisations in 9 EU member states. 60 people will work on the project full time.
SEINIT
SEINIT (Security Expert Initiative), an Integrated Project, aims to provide a trusted and dependable security framework that is ubiquitous, works across multiple devices and heterogeneous networks, and is organisation-independent and centred around the end-user.
ePROC
Public spending is big business and the advent of eProcurement poses an opportunity, and at the same time, a threat to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). An opportunity to expand or continue their business into the public sector arena and a threat for those who do not do business online.
eProcurement cannot exist outside of the broader context of eBusiness and SMEs who fail to embrace eBusiness will also miss the opportunity that eProcurement promises. There is also the issue of the process - a large unwieldy eProcurement process may prove prohibitive to the SME.
The eProc project, which has been approved for European Regional Development Funding under the INTERREG IIIB North West Europe Community Initiative on Territorial Planning, will address these issues. With the benefit of trans-national collaboration between each of the five partners, including the TSSG, and the sharing of knowledge and experiences from each country it is envisaged that this EUR1.2 million project will take the North-West European region to the vanguard of the eProcurement arena.
CREATION
This ambitious EUR20 million project will facilitate the testing of native IPv6 mobile applications and services on multiple locations, across 15 countries and 5 continents, over two and a half years. The world is going wireless. And wireless is increasingly complex. Wireless & mobility research projects require an affordable, accessible, and integrated network of 3G beyond test beds for prototyping, testing, and validating emerging service platforms, middleware, services, and applications. CREATION will deliver an Integrated Open Network (ION) of interconnected test beds providing the accessible, flexible, and open environment needed for all research projects with a wireless research component.
The impacts of the project will include an improved EU research infrastructure, improved cooperation between research and industry, global impacts on standards and technology harmonization, roadmaps and strategic guidance for future networks, and speedier incorporation of technology and take up of wireless research results.
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