New protocol speeds up Internet resource sharing

A Penn State researcher has developed a faster method for more efficient sharing of widely distributed Internet resources such as Web services, databases and high performance computers.

Jonghun Park, assistant professor in Penn State’s School of Information Sciences and Technology (IST) who has proposed the protocol, says the new technology speeds up to 10 times faster the allocation of Internet resources.

“In the near future, the demand for collaborative Internet applications will grow,” Park says. “Better coordination will be required to meet that demand, and this protocol provides that.”

The Penn State scientist describes his research today (Jan. 29) in a paper, “A Scalable Protocol for Deadlock and Livelock Free Co-Allocation of Resources in Internet Computing,” at IEEE’s Symposium on Applications and the Internet in Orlando, Fla.

Park’s proposed algorithm enables better coordination of Internet applications in support of large-scale computing. The protocol uses parallel rather than serial methods to process requests. That helps with more efficient resource allocation as well as solves the problems of deadlock and livelock caused by multiple concurrent Internet applications competing for Internet resources.

The new protocol also allows for Internet applications to choose among available resources. Existing technology can’t support making choices, thereby limiting its utilization. Its other advantage: Because it is decentralized, Park’s proposed protocol can function with its own information. That allows for collaboration across multiple, independent organizations in the open environment of the Internet. Existing protocols require communication with other applications – – not feasible in the open environment of the Internet.

Internet computing — the integration of widely distributed computational and informational resources into a cohesive network — allows for a broader exchange of information among more users than is possible today. Those can range from the military and government to businesses.

One example of such collaboration is Grid Computing that, much like electricity grids, harnesses available Internet resources in support of large-scale, scientific computing. Right now, the deployment of such virtual organizations is limited because they require a more sophisticated method to coordinate the resource allocation. Park’s decentralized protocol could provide that.