SBIR-STTR Award

A QoS Plan (QoS-P) uses networking resources intelligently and dynamically, rather than using a hardware surfeit to achieve similar results. As more real-time applications are deployed in an IP setting, implementations of historical IP “best efforts” QoS do not suffice—in an IP-based network, especially one employing TCP, a QoS-P cannot simply emphasize control of the topological path and timing of differing protocols/data types—unknown future participants are able to alter QoS-P efficacy unless governance requires entrance into a known SLA creating end-to-end functionality. This possibility for change is inherent to IP’s historical vision and purpose as the “common glue” for diverse and transparent protocols, unlike predecessor ARPANET, which left reliability to its hosts. Topia acknowledges that network QoS is an essential function of IP and that hosts must be included in any comprehensive QoS-P. A QoS-P could not be built for IP in a random system. However, GIG and SWIM are net-centric and service-oriented, with SLAs (within the SOA service contracts) at their interfaces, and this makes a realistic network-wide QoS-P possible. This proposal ties these aspects of IP and of more traditional QoS-Ps to develop a realistic QoS-P for the transfer of radar data between GIG and SWIM.

Keywords:
Ip-Based Networking, Qos Plan, Gig, Swim, Net-Centric Data Sharing System

The prototype for this Phase II SBIR fundamentally provides a way to assure that objectives will be reached given sufficient resources.  This assurance comes from numerous sources.  First, an on-time application provides the means to schedule and dispatch computing resources such that system priorities will be observed.  Second, using a Linda spaces framework provides the means to avoid latencies and to scale computational resources.  Third, the use of an enterprise service bus that incorporates not only translation of data to standard interfaces but also translation of protocols to standard protocols provides a basis for creating interoperability at the heart of the system.  Fourth, decoupling the cross-domain guards from application details allows the creation of guards that do not need to be re-accredited when applications and system change.  Fifth, the modularization of the system allows the parts of the system to be replaced by alternatives that are appropriate for the level and kind of service the system requires.  Last, the speed and intelligence of the system is not only balanced by its flexibility to deal with a variety of different communication circumstances but also by the guarantee that there will be very high data integrity and auditing of the process.

Benefit:
Topia''''s current commercialization plans include:   Licensing of both the turnkey SOA solution and its sale-able individual components; and   Design and development of custom applications built on the stack. Topia has identified customers of these products in two forms: resellers and enterprises. Resellers of the technology would largely take the form of lead system integrators (LSI) for large-scale government integration efforts, many of which are experiencing difficulty in implementing effective SOA systems and many more of which are yet to be funded.  For non-government implementations, Topia will concentrate on sales to enterprises (here, large companies, non-profits, or academic organizations). Both groupsresellers and enterpriseswill be customers of licensed and customized products.  Anticipated benefits for mission-critical information sharing systems include:   -quality assurance -hot failover -linear scalability -security -modularity -extremely high integrity

Keywords:
Aluminum Oxynitride, Alon, Improved Yield, Transparent Armor