The ABC adaptive fusion architecture

Abstract

Contemporary distributed collaborative systems tend to utilize either a client-server or a pure peer-to-peer paradigm. A client-server solution may potentially spawn direct connections between the clients to offload the server thereby creating a hybrid architecture. A pure peer-to-peer paradigm may on the other hand fully eliminate the need for a server. However, some situations call for the strengths of both approaches without relying on either of them. A system might both be used in environments where an infrastructure is present and in environments where it is not. In this paper we present an architecture and early implementation of a system capable of adapting to its operating environment, choosing the best fit combination of the client-server and peer-to-peer architectures. The architecture creates a seamless integration between a centralized hybrid architecture and a decentralized architecture, relying on what we have termed Peer-to-peer Distributed Shared Objects (PDSO). The proposed solution has been implemented and early evaluation has begun. Furthermore, the approach has been utilized to create a real distributed collaborative system for collaboration in hospitals.