- Email: [email protected]
National information infrastructure components
NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS Robert Kahn Introduction The major components of a National Information Infrastructure will ultimately include: 1) multimedia networks with capacities of a gigabit per second or more, 2) a National Digital Library, 3) National Knowledge Banks for science and engineering, and 4) an electronic transaction framework for business and industry (a version of computerized commerce). We can expect that an information infrastructure will be comprised of three basic components. The first of these is a network that links the various users and computational elements. The network includes both the underlying communication system and the rules and protocols for its use. The second component is the set of databases, knowledge bases, and active processes that provide relevant information or act in ways that further the solution of a user's problem. These subcomponents are provisioned within the network to serve the user community and are thus known as system servers. The third component is the infrastructure intelligence, which is mostly invisible to the end-user. It is this component that enables the user to have easy and instant access to existing servers and it also supports the interactive creation of new servers.
The Attributes of a National Information Infrastructure Three desirable attributes of a practical (rather than ideal) information infrastructure are that it 1) be capable of evolution, 2) build upon current and existing capabilities in a cost-effective manner, and 3) support the ability of the user to gain access rights to critical information through online interactive methods. Flexible and effective evolution of the infrastructure must occur in order to support the increasing size of its user community and to dynamically add functionality as user needs grow. By building on the extant collection of systems and databases, the information infrastructure will maximize the likelihood that active users in the field will be comfortable using the resulting system. This approach will also allow for a graceful transition from the current special purpose systems and networks to a more general and flexible architecture of the future National Information Infrastructure.
Techniques will be needed to allow for the creation of complex distributed system interactions in the network component. Network Component
Kahn is president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives in Reston, Virginia.
NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS - -
The network component of a National Information Infrastructure will consist of multiple networks ranging from access networks to backbone transmission sysSPRING AND SUMMER
1992
85
tems. The speeds may vary from slow to very high depending on the situation. Real-time graphics, maps, simulation output, and movement of large data stores require very high bandwidth networks. Common protocols and interaction standards are needed to ensure that effective interactions between the system elements occur. These will range from transmission protocols matched to the speed of the most powerful underlying network, to advanced electronic mail standards that allow composite multimedia messages to be exchanged and processed. Techniques will be needed to allow for the creation of complex distributed system interactions in the network component. These techniques will include the ability of users to specify well-structured classes of distributed computations and to implement them with relative ease using "knowbot" programs, 1 standard protocols, or other active agents within the network. The use of forms for specification can help to restrict usage to well-structured computations such as distributed database retrievals from specific servers. By judicious choice of form sets, perhaps 80 percent of all desired retrievals can be achieved using a relatively small set of concepts. The underlying network component of the information infrastructure must be sufficiently reliable that a user may assume it will be available when needed. Furthermore, the networks' performance characteristics, such as end-to-end delay, throughput, and accuracy of message delivery, must be assured. These are largely engineering concerns, but they must be an integral part of the infrastructure design. Server Component Servers include such things as conventional databases, knowledge bases, and transaction systems. Databases are the repositories of factual information about given topics. Knowledge bases contain rules, hueristics, and relations that may be used to formulate approaches to solving given problems. In either case, their front-end is a transactional system that handles multiple inputs from users and then accesses the database or knowledge base on behalf of the user. Other servers may carry out transformations of various kinds, such as protocol conversions, string mappings, and between databases and/or knowledge bases. Input/output servers can help to input external information into the infrastructure such as sensory data or the contents of portable secondary storage media. Elemental simulators that generate plausible real world conditions (such as weather, failure conditions, or system demands) may also be desirable as servers. An important attribute of servers is that they be able to broadcast their existence within the infrastruc86
SERIALSREVIEW
ture, particularly when they first become available. This announcement could contain sufficient information to convey what function the server is intended to perform, some notion of its expected cost and performance characteristics, and input/output specifications for its usage. Other relevant information, such as ownership and usage rights, or derivative systems that are used, could also be included. Such announcements, if they allow arbitrary users connected to the infrastructure to take advantage of the servers without further ado, can have an important generative quality. Namely, they can allow new servers to be created dynamically, using existing servers and by announcing the existence of such new servers over the network. These are known as "composable servers." With this capability, creative uses of the network can be spontaneously spawned by the user community and perhaps eventually by intelligent programs.
User Support Component The users of the National Information Infrastructure may require assistance in the formulation of inputs to the system. These may take a wide range of forms, from queries in natural language (at one extreme), to the filling out of structured forms (in the middle), to the execution of simple commands (at the other end of the spectrum). While the user may not know what simple command to give, this is easily remedied by the use of well-known "help" facilities that seem to work acceptably well today. In the other cases, the user may require help in formulating the actual input. This assistance can be provided by a computer-based agent, which has some knowledge of the range of database services and can interact with the user to formulate his or her problem more accurately or perhaps more generally. Thus, through a mixed dialogue with the agent, a user can avoid retrieving massive amounts of irrelevant data because a question was asked, or a retrieval started, that was too specific or somewhat off the mark. In assisting the user to express his or her intentions accurately, the agent must take into account the ability of the resources in the infrastructure to handle it. However, the agent need not know the details of each server, or even each server's location or address within the system. While it could presumably find such information, if needed, a separate set of resources called "brokers" or "mediators" is envisioned, which will help the users' well-formed input to be executed properly. In summary, the agents will help the user form his or her strategy while the brokers will help to execute it in the most effective manner.
--
ROBERT KAHN
Network Intelligence Component A critical aspect of the National Information Infrastructure is the need of the user to understand what is happening during the course of any interactions with the network. This is analogous to the "in-transit visibility" problem for movement of physical entities, except that it applies to informational interactions within the infrastructure itself. The user may need to see the current state of a retrieval request, or to learn what happened, in order to prevent a query from being processed to completion. Another important feature of the infrastructure will be the possibility of including significant intelligence within the boundaries of the network component. For example, one class of servers might support a "white pages" or "yellow pages" type of information base. Results of queries might be provided directly to the user's program or to the user. Alternatively, the user
may not care to know the answer. The user's program may also not care, and the network is left to find the answer and use it appropriately. For example, the mapping of user name to network mailbox might be left to the network to determine, with the sender only being asked to resolve conflicts and indeterminancies. The network component of the infrastructure could have a relatively complete map of where various resources are located and find the best routes on behalf of the user to one of possibly several server choices. Alternatively, the network itself may play a role in planning the solution to some part of the user's problem if some critical piece of planning information (such as status of various networks) was only known to the network.
NOTE 1.
"Knowbot" is a registered trademark o f CNRI.
WHEN IT COMES TO LIBRARYAUTOMATION EBSCO .. O F F E R S Y O U .Cfi
iCES.
Here are just a few of the many library automation benefits you can realize with EBSCO: • Online Ordering • Online Claims to Publishers • Electronic Invoices • Gateway to EBSCONET ® • Gateway to The CARL System Network & UnCover Database oEDI/Interface Capabilities with 50+ Library Systems • EBSCO/RETRO TM Retrospective Conversion Service • EBScan TM Data Input System (bar code scanning service) • CD-ROM Software, Hardware & Networking Systems oExtended Database Access At EBSCO, we think that you know best what suits your needs . . . a n d that you deserve more t h a n one choice. Isn't that what you expect from a professional subscription agency? Contact the EBSCO Regional Office near you to learn more.
EBSCO
SUBSCRIPTIONSERVICES
International Headquarters P.O. Box 1943 • Birmingham, AL 35201-1943 (205) 991-6600 Call us today to learn w h a t m o r e can m e a n to you.
NATIONAL INFORMATIONINFRASTRUCTURECOMI~NENTS - -
SPRING AND SUMMER 1992
87
The Attributes of a National Information Infrastructure Three desirable attributes of a practical (rather than ideal) information infrastructure are that it 1) be capable of evolution, 2) build upon current and existing capabilities in a cost-effective manner, and 3) support the ability of the user to gain access rights to critical information through online interactive methods. Flexible and effective evolution of the infrastructure must occur in order to support the increasing size of its user community and to dynamically add functionality as user needs grow. By building on the extant collection of systems and databases, the information infrastructure will maximize the likelihood that active users in the field will be comfortable using the resulting system. This approach will also allow for a graceful transition from the current special purpose systems and networks to a more general and flexible architecture of the future National Information Infrastructure.
Techniques will be needed to allow for the creation of complex distributed system interactions in the network component. Network Component
Kahn is president of the Corporation for National Research Initiatives in Reston, Virginia.
NATIONAL INFORMATION INFRASTRUCTURE COMPONENTS - -
The network component of a National Information Infrastructure will consist of multiple networks ranging from access networks to backbone transmission sysSPRING AND SUMMER
1992
85
tems. The speeds may vary from slow to very high depending on the situation. Real-time graphics, maps, simulation output, and movement of large data stores require very high bandwidth networks. Common protocols and interaction standards are needed to ensure that effective interactions between the system elements occur. These will range from transmission protocols matched to the speed of the most powerful underlying network, to advanced electronic mail standards that allow composite multimedia messages to be exchanged and processed. Techniques will be needed to allow for the creation of complex distributed system interactions in the network component. These techniques will include the ability of users to specify well-structured classes of distributed computations and to implement them with relative ease using "knowbot" programs, 1 standard protocols, or other active agents within the network. The use of forms for specification can help to restrict usage to well-structured computations such as distributed database retrievals from specific servers. By judicious choice of form sets, perhaps 80 percent of all desired retrievals can be achieved using a relatively small set of concepts. The underlying network component of the information infrastructure must be sufficiently reliable that a user may assume it will be available when needed. Furthermore, the networks' performance characteristics, such as end-to-end delay, throughput, and accuracy of message delivery, must be assured. These are largely engineering concerns, but they must be an integral part of the infrastructure design. Server Component Servers include such things as conventional databases, knowledge bases, and transaction systems. Databases are the repositories of factual information about given topics. Knowledge bases contain rules, hueristics, and relations that may be used to formulate approaches to solving given problems. In either case, their front-end is a transactional system that handles multiple inputs from users and then accesses the database or knowledge base on behalf of the user. Other servers may carry out transformations of various kinds, such as protocol conversions, string mappings, and between databases and/or knowledge bases. Input/output servers can help to input external information into the infrastructure such as sensory data or the contents of portable secondary storage media. Elemental simulators that generate plausible real world conditions (such as weather, failure conditions, or system demands) may also be desirable as servers. An important attribute of servers is that they be able to broadcast their existence within the infrastruc86
SERIALSREVIEW
ture, particularly when they first become available. This announcement could contain sufficient information to convey what function the server is intended to perform, some notion of its expected cost and performance characteristics, and input/output specifications for its usage. Other relevant information, such as ownership and usage rights, or derivative systems that are used, could also be included. Such announcements, if they allow arbitrary users connected to the infrastructure to take advantage of the servers without further ado, can have an important generative quality. Namely, they can allow new servers to be created dynamically, using existing servers and by announcing the existence of such new servers over the network. These are known as "composable servers." With this capability, creative uses of the network can be spontaneously spawned by the user community and perhaps eventually by intelligent programs.
User Support Component The users of the National Information Infrastructure may require assistance in the formulation of inputs to the system. These may take a wide range of forms, from queries in natural language (at one extreme), to the filling out of structured forms (in the middle), to the execution of simple commands (at the other end of the spectrum). While the user may not know what simple command to give, this is easily remedied by the use of well-known "help" facilities that seem to work acceptably well today. In the other cases, the user may require help in formulating the actual input. This assistance can be provided by a computer-based agent, which has some knowledge of the range of database services and can interact with the user to formulate his or her problem more accurately or perhaps more generally. Thus, through a mixed dialogue with the agent, a user can avoid retrieving massive amounts of irrelevant data because a question was asked, or a retrieval started, that was too specific or somewhat off the mark. In assisting the user to express his or her intentions accurately, the agent must take into account the ability of the resources in the infrastructure to handle it. However, the agent need not know the details of each server, or even each server's location or address within the system. While it could presumably find such information, if needed, a separate set of resources called "brokers" or "mediators" is envisioned, which will help the users' well-formed input to be executed properly. In summary, the agents will help the user form his or her strategy while the brokers will help to execute it in the most effective manner.
--
ROBERT KAHN
Network Intelligence Component A critical aspect of the National Information Infrastructure is the need of the user to understand what is happening during the course of any interactions with the network. This is analogous to the "in-transit visibility" problem for movement of physical entities, except that it applies to informational interactions within the infrastructure itself. The user may need to see the current state of a retrieval request, or to learn what happened, in order to prevent a query from being processed to completion. Another important feature of the infrastructure will be the possibility of including significant intelligence within the boundaries of the network component. For example, one class of servers might support a "white pages" or "yellow pages" type of information base. Results of queries might be provided directly to the user's program or to the user. Alternatively, the user
may not care to know the answer. The user's program may also not care, and the network is left to find the answer and use it appropriately. For example, the mapping of user name to network mailbox might be left to the network to determine, with the sender only being asked to resolve conflicts and indeterminancies. The network component of the infrastructure could have a relatively complete map of where various resources are located and find the best routes on behalf of the user to one of possibly several server choices. Alternatively, the network itself may play a role in planning the solution to some part of the user's problem if some critical piece of planning information (such as status of various networks) was only known to the network.
NOTE 1.
"Knowbot" is a registered trademark o f CNRI.
WHEN IT COMES TO LIBRARYAUTOMATION EBSCO .. O F F E R S Y O U .Cfi
iCES.
Here are just a few of the many library automation benefits you can realize with EBSCO: • Online Ordering • Online Claims to Publishers • Electronic Invoices • Gateway to EBSCONET ® • Gateway to The CARL System Network & UnCover Database oEDI/Interface Capabilities with 50+ Library Systems • EBSCO/RETRO TM Retrospective Conversion Service • EBScan TM Data Input System (bar code scanning service) • CD-ROM Software, Hardware & Networking Systems oExtended Database Access At EBSCO, we think that you know best what suits your needs . . . a n d that you deserve more t h a n one choice. Isn't that what you expect from a professional subscription agency? Contact the EBSCO Regional Office near you to learn more.
EBSCO
SUBSCRIPTIONSERVICES
International Headquarters P.O. Box 1943 • Birmingham, AL 35201-1943 (205) 991-6600 Call us today to learn w h a t m o r e can m e a n to you.
NATIONAL INFORMATIONINFRASTRUCTURECOMI~NENTS - -
SPRING AND SUMMER 1992
87