Overview
Distributed computing research at IBM Research - Zurich is focused on a fundamental element in IBM's overall Smarter Planet strategy. In order to created integrated, interconnected, an intelligent infrastructures, it is necessary to be able to build systems that can interact with a wide range of devices that may be controlling water or energy consumption, monitoring people needing care in hospitals or at home, or controlling systems that produce the raw materials and goods that our society relies on.
To realize this our Mote Runner project is focused on providing a platform and tools that will allow computer scientists to use state-of-the-art methods to implement systems to monitor and control a wide range of devices, many with very constrained resources and only limited connectivity to the rest of the infrastructure. These systems will be easy to deploy and manage so that this application-specific role can be performed by domain experts without constant support from software specialists.
To enable integration of these devices in larger IT environments, which will allow enterprises and society to be managed and optimized in a logical, holistic fashion, our Advanced messaging technologies project is focused on developing novel messaging-oriented middleware that will allow even small devices to communicate and interact effectively as part of an overall system.
