ACTIVITIES :: Future of the Internet :: European research
European research - FIA Projects
4WARD
Abstract
4WARD’s Strategic Objective
4WARD aims to increase the competitiveness of the European networking industry
and to improve the quality of life for European citizens by creating a family of
dependable and interoperable networks providing direct and ubiquitous access to
information.
These future wireless and wireline networks will be designed to be readily
adaptable to current and future needs, at acceptable cost. 4WARD’s goal is to
make the development of networks and networked applications faster and easier,
leading to both more advanced and more affordable communication services.
Technical Approach
In our approach, we combine on one hand innovations needed to improve the
operation of any single network architecture and on the other hand multiple
different and specialised network architectures that are made to work together
in an overall framework.
We will work
on innovations overcoming the shortcomings of current communication networks
like the Internet
in a framework that allows the coexistence, inter-operability, and
complementarity of several network architectures
in an integrated fashion, avoiding pitfalls like the current Internet’s “patch
on a patch” approach.
This work is structured into six work packages: three of them consider
innovations for a single network architecture, i.e., Generic Path, In-Network
Management and the Network of Information, one work package studies the use of
Virtualisation to allow multiple networking architectures to co-exist on the
same infrastructure, another work package looks at the design and development of
Interoperable Architectures, and finally one work package that ensures that all
envisaged developments take proper account of essential Non-Technical Issues.
Project Facts
FP7 Project Reference: 216041
Start Date: 2008-01-01
Duration: 24 months
Project Cost: 23.25 million euro
Contract Type: Collaborative project (generic)
End Date: 2009-12-31
Project Status: Execution
Project Funding: 14.45 million euro
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