Ninja and the Post-PC Era David Culler U.C. Berkeley Mar 12,

3/12/99Lucent visit Natural Tides of Innovation Time Integration Innovation Log R Mainframe Minicomputer Personal Computer Workstation Server 2/99

3/12/99Lucent visit Exciting components

3/12/99Lucent visit Historical Perspective New eras of computing start when the previous era is so strong it is hard to imagine that things could ever be different –mainframe -> mini –mini -> workstation -> PC –PC -> ??? It is always smaller than what came before. Most think of the new technology as “just a toy” The new dominant use was almost completely absent before. Technology spread increases So where are we headed in the post-PC era?

3/12/99Lucent visit Away from the “average device” Powerful, personal capabilities from specialized devices –small, highly mobile or embedded in the environment Intelligence + immense storage and processing in the infrastructure Everything connected Laptops, Desktops Devices

3/12/99Lucent visit Imagine You walk into a room You have complete, secure, optimized access to local devices and your private resources Your PDA connects to the local infrastructure and asks it to build a custom GUI Next, your PDA asks the infrastructure for a path out to your personal information space, where agents are processing your , v-mail, faxes, and pages

3/12/99Lucent visit Bases –highly available –persistent state (safe) –databases, agents –“home” base per user –service programming environment Structured Architecture Active Proxies –not packet routers –soft-state –well-connected –localization (any to any) Units –sensors / actuators –PDAs / smartphones / PCs –heterogeneous –Minimal functionality: “Smart Clients” Wide-Area Path

3/12/99Lucent visit Service request service threads Operators Caches Persistent Storage Managed RMI++ Physical processor Service Execution Environment parallel application framework on Bases –RMI++ hides complexity of scalability and availability –Dynamic customization and composition apSpace is limited execution environment for AR operator upload

3/12/99Lucent visit Base Execution Environment Ninja RMI –Sun RMI compatible serialization and thread management –ninja remote object + TCP or UDP or Multicast UDP (Active Msg soon) + Authenticated public key iS-box –customizable service VM Redirector = iSpace

3/12/99Lucent visit iS-box JVM iS-Loader Trusted-Services Security MGR Loader Extends JVM to support services –LoadService (URL, name, args) –ListServices –GetService(name) -> svc obj –KillService Trusted services loaded at startup Security MGR interposes on method calls –loaded as a trusted service

3/12/99Lucent visit Push Services into the Infrastructure GetService returns service object Programming Model for Service Methods? JVM iS-Loader Trusted-Services Security MGR New service RMI stubs Generated by RMI compiler Service Methods

3/12/99Lucent visit Scalable iSpace Multi-Space services across group of iS- boxes List, Get, or Load Service from any Get returns redirector stub System Area Network Node iS-box Node iS-box Node iS-box Node iS-box Multi-Space JVM iS-Loader Multi-Space Loader Security MGR Multi-Space SVC

3/12/99Lucent visit Redirector Stub Uses almost same RMI dynamic code generation Produces RMI stub that manages load balancing and fail- over across iS-boxes in iSpace Allows full spectrum of smart-client, front- end, flat cluster RMI stubs Generated by RMI compiler Load Balance / Fail-over Policy Distributed Objects - not just remote

3/12/99Lucent visit Existing Applications Ninja "NOW Jukebox" –Harnesses Berkeley Network of Workstations –Plays real-time MPEG-3 audio served from 110+ CD's worth of music Voice-enabled room control –Speech-to-text Operators control room services (camera, lights, microphone) –Eventual integration with GSM cell phones and PDA-based UI Stock Trading Service –Accesses real-time stock data from Internet –Programmatic interface to buy/sell/trade stocks through online brokerage NinjaFAX –Programmable remotely-accessed FAX machine service –Send/receive FAXes; authentication used for access control Keiretsu: The Ninja Pager Service –Provides instant messaging service via Web, 1/2-way pagers, WorkPads, etc.

3/12/99Lucent visit Future Applications Universal Inbox – , FAX, pager, voic accessible anywhere Universal Remote –multiple-UI control of household/room devices –automatic UI generation Ecash Mint –Authenticated service to act as digital secure cash mint

3/12/99Lucent visit Complements industry PostPC efforts Get maximum number of applications first –1990 PC capality in handheld device –microkernel port of Unix or Windows –emulate vast API Turn devices into appliances Mobile extension of dedicated PC –take short excursion and synch Success of the Palm Pilot with primitive OS and split application model is significant –it’s the approach, not the technical superiority Need to develop foundations for next generation

3/12/99Lucent visit Seeds sewn in many projects Devices - Infopad, IRAM Scalable Servers - NOW, Millennium Storage - Tertiary Disk, Istore, Aetherstore Sensors and Actuators - BSAC Connectivity - BWRC Transcoding Services - Wingman, Mediaboard Platform Architecture - Ninja Computing/Telephony Integration - Iceberg Programming Enviornments and Tools User interfaces - Notepals

3/12/99Lucent visit Building the Bazaar What we need is not just a new research project, but a new “computing culture” => Build a department-wide, universal wireless PDA infrastructure and a community to take it forward Initial Seed Fall 98 with IBM –150+ IBM workpads + lots of cradles + IR + ??? Initial community –Ninja, ICEBERG, MASH grad students –Senior UI Class (CS 160) –All interested 1st year CS grads (CS 252, 261, 262 projects) –Fill out based on interest, talent and availability => “ask a good question and get yours” seminar

3/12/99Lucent visit Fall’98 Project Excerpts E-Commerce and Security –Pay-Per-Use Services on the Palm Computing Platform (Mike Chen, Andrew Geweke) –Secure Infrastructure for PDAs (Hoon Kang, Rob von Behren) –SyncAnywhere - Secure Network HotSync (Mike Chen, Helen Wang) Groupware –Kiretsu - Ninja Instant Messaging Service (Matt Welsh, Steve Gribble) –The MASH MediaPad - Shared Electronic Whiteboard for the PalmPilot (Yatin Chawathe) –NotePals - Lightweight Meeting Support Using PDAs (Richard Davis) – OSKI - Open Shared Kalendaring Infrastructure (Jason Hong, Brad Morrey, Mark Newman) OS and Communications – PalmRouter - Networking Sporadically Connected Devices (Andras Ferencz, Robert Szewczyk) Numerous Architecture Studies Excellent UI Projects –Ink Chat, Nutrition/Excercise Tracker, Rendezvous - Meeting Scheduler

3/12/99Lucent visit Some Lessons Communication is enabling –low-power wireless needs to be like IP Virtual Environment is important –Devices connect “into the infrastructure” »Network HotSync, groupware, centralized => Need lean, clean communication substrate “User Service” is fundamental –not just profile and customization info –routing point for security Much room for improvement in devices –trade BW for compute or storage Development effort is the limiting factor –OSKI: 1 person for infrastructure, 2 for WorkPad => need complete distributed system debugging and simulation environment

3/12/99Lucent visit Momentum Building Deploy postPC infrastructure throughout building Millennium provides large-scale testbed Ninja architecture allows developers to “Push Services into the Infrastructure” Gigabit Ethernet PDAs Cell Phones Future Devices Wireless Infrastructure Desktop PCs Servers Clusters Massive Cluster

3/12/99Lucent visit Oceanic Vision: fluid software devices everywhere backed by massive, fluid data storage and composible services operating systems for vastly diverse devices –down to sensors and actuators streaming data management –data derived from sensors and activities, not key entry –incremental query automated negotiation architecture derive organization from activities –social networking –computational economies

3/12/99Lucent visit Roles, Collaboration, and Environment Bold, Rich PostPC Agenda Emerging New balance of expertise and technology between industry and university –devices, components, networks, applications, users New roles and relationships in collaboration –how do we share space, environment, culture, not just technology Fundamentally new demands on the research space –ability to deploy smart spaces on a large scale –experimental wireless networking –new modes of human interaction It’s not just what we build, but how we use it