A Dispersed Computing Architecture for Resource-Centric Computation and Communication

Abstract

We describe a new vision of joint computation and communication resource management that goes beyond the end-to-end and client-server model of the current Internet. Enabled by a growing trend toward embedding processing and networking capabilities into "smart" network nodes and devices, for example, smartphones, watches, appliances, and automobiles, Dispersed Computing describes a new resource-centric architecture that leverages the diversity of networked computation points within the network, and the heterogeneity of network links and protocol stacks that connect them. We describe this new, resource-centric architecture as an evolution of both fog/edge networking and active networks. We illustrate the fundamental principles and the advantages over the current Internet architecture, and highlight several commercial use cases enabled by a dispersed computing architecture.