DG INFSO

Unit D3- "Project Achievements" sheet PLASTIC STREP

PLASTIC Interim Achievements Sheet Scope

The PLASTIC project introduces a service development platform for lightweight devices interacting in Beyond 3rd Generation (B3G) networking environments (including WiFi, Bluetooth and cellular networks).

With PLASTIC, service designers and providers will have a unique opportunity to design services intended to run on wireless handheld devices such as smart phones, PDAs or ultra mobile PCs, but also networking equipments such as Residential Gateways.

Advances
The PLASTIC platform enables robust distributed lightweight services in the B3G networking environment through: The PLASTIC development environment leveraging Model-Driven Engineering for the thorough development of SLA- and resource-aware services, which may be deployed on the various networked nodes, including handheld devices. Currently available service design solutions only focus on guaranteeing functional requirements (My service does what I want). With PLASTIC, a novel framework for the additional management of non-functional properties, such as Quality of Service (QoS), starting at development time is provided (My service runs well in the devices and over the planned infrastructure). Moreover, the PLASTIC development environment supports the design of Service Level Agreements (SLAs), and offers QoS analysis tools, and code generation tools that take into account the Service Level Agreements and the QoS requirements to generate WSDL specifications and Java code. The PLASTIC service-oriented middleware leveraging multi-radio devices and multinetwork environments for applications and services run on mobile devices, further enabling context-aware and secure discovery and access to such services. Effort in the area of middleware for B3G networks is mostly focused on infrastructure-centric solutions (e.g., IMS, UMA) where services are deployed in the core network and end-user terminals act as service clients. PLASTIC enables (i) end-user mobile terminals to act as both service clients and providers, and further (ii) network handover at the middleware layer on both the client and server sides. In addition, PLASTIC introduces (i) B3G SOAP for the effective routing of SOAP
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Unit D3- "Project Achievements" sheet PLASTIC STREP

messages over multi-radio, multi-network links, (ii) B3G CBR for content-based routing in large scale networks and (iii) key networking services such as service discovery, context awareness and security. The PLASTIC validation framework enabling off-line and on-line validation of networked services regarding functional and QoS properties. PLASTIC has developed a test framework than spans over the whole service lifecycle, covering with a coherent set of tools both off-line and on-line stages, and addressing both functional and nonfunctional concerns. The test environment does not consist only in the combination of different techniques but allows service developers to rigorously test a service before deployment in a realistic reproduction of the deployment context (as opposed to testing in the real environment or to ad hoc mocking it). Moreover, support is provided for monitoring the services against defined properties, improving in efficiency with respect to existing solutions and directly deriving the monitor from the SLA contracts.

Positioning in global context

There are several activities worldwide defining and implementing solutions for services in todays networking environments and following the SOA approach. The PLASTIC platform distinguishes itself by introducing solutions that are meant for service designers and providers (Integrators, Aggregators, Telecom Operators, 3rd party Service Providers, etc). The PLASTIC platform tools can be easily personalized and the customer can set up a service platform that best suites his requirements in particular regarding the targeted networking environment and the software engineering technologies he is normally acquainted to.

Contribution to standardization and interoperability issues

The PLASTIC platform builds upon and enriches a number of standards, and in particular: OMGs MDA and UML, OMAs MWS and OWSER, W3Cs WSA, OASIS XACML and SAML, and OSGis MEG.

Target users / sectors in business and society

PLASTIC solutions target Service Designers, Providers and Testers.

Overall Benefits for business and society

The benefits of the PLASTIC platform are manifold, featuring: A more reliable design process. An SLA formal definition methodology. If good SLA contracts are established in the Telecom sector, the churn can be reduced up to 30%. A set of Middleware blocks and APIs, enabling very effectively heterogeneous networking environments in a secure, reliable and yet easy to use manner. A shorter service deployment turnaround time (decreased by a factor of two!), because of the optimized testing capabilities of PLASTIC. Fastest time to market on the services design. Every 3 to 4 months new services have to be offered to the market in many fields but especially in the mobile market! Paving the way for a competitive sustainable European software. Establishing means for end-to-end mobile services to be used in different business areas.

Examples of Business scenarios or use cases

The PLASTIC platform brings mobile distributed services to various application areas.
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Unit D3- "Project Achievements" sheet PLASTIC STREP

eBusiness: Secure anyplace access to relevant technical information in heterogeneous, evolving networked environments. Access to technical data in an efficient way, according to context. Flexible distribution of critical issues across autonomous field workers operating in B3G networking environments. eHealth: Access to medical care at home and everywhere via B3G networking. SLA agreements check among the stakeholders. Service interaction with multiple user devices and across networks. Providing the information to the specialist that better fits the demand. eLearning: Student/Professor cooperation tool. Creation of online learning communities. Visual tools to create lesson structure and add content, powerful online-test builders, communication tools (chat, forum and personal messages, etc.). eVoting: Support for high vote security and universal result verifiability in any kind of election procedure. Targets market-research and opinion-research companies.

Achievements
The PLASTIC platform enables service provision in the open wireless environment, through the comprehensive integration of: The PLASTIC development environment offering QoS analysis tools, code generation tools, and modeling tools, including SLA, resource aware adaptation and programming tools. More information at http://www-c.inria.fr/plastic/a-development-environment Reference implementation of the tools are downloadable at:
http://gforge.inria.fr/frs/?group_id=1403

The PLASTIC service-oriented middleware implementing multi-radio networking and device management (WiFi, BT, 3G), B3G SOAP and content-based routing, service discovery, context awareness, lightweight Web services security and a publish/subscribe facility. More information at http://www-c.inria.fr/plastic/the-plastic-middleware Reference implementation of the http://gforge.inria.fr/frs/?group_id=699 middleware solutions are downloadable at:

The PLASTIC validation tool framework integrating off-line testing (with model-based testing, automatic test stubs generation, workload simulated testing) and on-line testing (with run time verification and monitoring testing) tools. More information at http://www-c.inria.fr/plastic/the-plastic-validation-framework Reference implementation of http://plastic.isti.cnr.it/wiki/doku.php the tools are downloadable at: