Issues in Architectures and Technologies for On-line, Global-Scale Scientific Environments

This paper presents several case studies of scenarios where advanced network and middleware infrastructure issues represent a key element. The scenarios - virtual laboratories, large-scale science, and mobile intelligence systems - represent important future capabilities that will be provided by large-scale network infrastructure. Several of the technologies that will underlay these capabilities will have to be developed with the assistance of Federal government support for research. These capabilities - several new classes of network services, resource discovery mechanisms, and versatile security architectures - require development and prototyping in large network testbeds. Federal support of such testbeds, and the associated research and prototype application development, has had a profound impact in the past, and remains critical to the development of new Internet services in the future. 1.0 Introduction Computer systems have traditionally been built as independent microcosms wher..