Secure Pervasive Information Architecture (SPIA)

Since Weiser's vision in 1991 for Ubiquitous (also called Pervasive) Computing there has been little tangible progress towards it. However, over time the communications industry has begun to erode many of the hardware barriers to this vision. Even so, the utopia of Pervasive Computing remains out of reach, primarily as a result of the continued fixation with devices and connectivity as a way to realise mobility. However, it could be argued that users ultimately require access to information or content irrespective of the devices and connectivity around them. Consequently, Pervasive Information is seen as the key to true user mobility.

Consequently, as a reaction to the increased management complexity of today's physically separated services, there is a predicted need for information convergence in addition to today's physical convergence that is currently being addressed in many fora within the international research community. The much prophesised 'information explosion' will demand advanced capabilities for finding and accessing information across heterogeneous mixes of repositories; consequently, in order to yield the greatest flexibility, future systems capable of information convergence will be required to logically separate the use of information from its storage.

This SPIA architecture is a first attempt at capturing common functionality and information that is used by two or more of the three layers. Basically, this architecture contains the common functionalities and manages the information they use.

The Secure Pervasive Information Architecture research theme is led by Stewart Fallis.