Waterford Institute of Technology Joins Strategic Internet Security Project

By: Gary McManus

Last week Waterford played host to a group of more than 100 scientists, many of them world experts in their field, brought together to discuss some of the forthcoming technologies that will shape our future.

These scientists were all convened at the Telecommunications Software & Systems Group (TSSG) at Waterford Institute of Technology to discuss a project called DAIDALOS (Designing Advanced Interfaces for the Delivery and Administration of Location independent Optimised personal Services), of which the TSSG is a core member. DAIDALOS, an EU funded research project worth 14.5 million Euros, incorporates 46 partners from industry and academia representing 15 European countries, Singapore and China.

The DAIDALOS project has a vision to enable users to access a wide range of personalised communication services whenever and wherever they need them. The project will seamlessly integrate the heterogeneous network technologies available and allow the average user to remain oblivious to the number and complexity of access technologies on offer. The communications device will make the necessary choices, according to preset user preferences such as cost and speed to optimise the experience for the user.

DAIDALOS is a breakthrough project not only because of the nature of its research but also because it is one of the first new breed of projects funded under the European Commissions Sixth Framework called Integrated Projects (IPs). IPs have been designed to support objective-driven research, by mobilising a critical mass of resources. Most of them are very large, with at least twenty research partners and substantial budgets. It is anticipated that these extensive projects will have a structuring effect on the fabric of European research.

The DAIDALOS Waterford summit provided a forum for these experts to meet and discuss their ideas with many fruitful and educational discussions carried out throughout the week. By the end of the week many ideas had been clarified, and some more questions had been identified.

These will be addressed before their next summit, which will be held in Spain in early June.
As well as a week of heavy technology discussions, there was also time for relaxing, with two organised events arranged to give the travelling troupe a Waterford experience.

Two social nights, the first in the Bodega and the second in Jack Meade's, proved to be a great success with many songs sung and many more pints of Guinness drank.