ISRG and the Post-PC Era David Culler U.C. Berkeley ISRG Retreat Jan, 1999.

1/11/99ISRG Retreat2 Why is Internet-Scale Systems Research Concerned with Small “Post-PC” Devices?

1/11/99ISRG Retreat3 The Emerging Platform Pyramid SuperComputers SuperServers Departmental Servers Workstations Personal Computers 100 millions < Million 10Ks 100s Workstations Small Devices billions

1/11/99ISRG Retreat4 Future Internet-Scale Systems ~10 Billion of Information Appliances ~100 Million of Stationary Computers ~Million Scalable Servers

1/11/99ISRG Retreat5 Natural Convergence “Internet-Scale” => system reaches “everywhere” –small devices will be what is “wherever” Small devices provide powerful services –because the intelligence is in the infrastructure The breakthrough ahead is pervasive devices + communication Services, adaptation, access, customization, simplicity, efficiency,...

1/11/99ISRG Retreat6 Seeds sewn in many projects Infopad, Wingman, Mediaboard, Notepals,... Ninja - platform architecture –powerful services on small devices through a powerful infrastructure Iceberg - integration of computing and telephony Notepals - new user interfaces IRAM - high performance multimedia at low power Aetherstore - the data is out there Demos around you...

1/11/99ISRG Retreat7 A Radical Experiment What we need is not a new research project It is a new “computing culture”

1/11/99ISRG Retreat8 Game Plan (Oct 1998) Build a department-wide, universal wireless PDA infrastructure Initial Seed: 150+ IBM workpads + lots of cradles + IR + ??? Running UI classes on them Bring in all interested 1st year CS grads Fill out based on interest, talent and availability next generation wider and better => “ask a good question and get yours” seminar

1/11/99ISRG Retreat9 Fall’98 Project Excerpts (see posters) 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 CS160 UI Projects (see James Landay talk) – Ink Chat, Nutrition/Excercise Tracker, Rendezvous - Meeting Scheduler

1/11/99ISRG Retreat10 Some Lessons Communication is enabling Virtual Environment really is a good thing –Devices connect “into the infrastructure” –Network HotSync, groupware, centralized => Need lean, clean communication substrate Much room for improvement in devices Palm III (WorkPad) is too slow… –adaptation involves trading cycles for bandwidth and interoperability

1/11/99ISRG Retreat11 Lessons… Development effort is the limiting factor –OSKI: 1 person for infrastructure, 2 for WorkPad –Debugging is particularly hard => need complete system simulation environment “User Service” is fundamental –not just profile and customization info –routing point for security Surprising similarities with the “infrastructure problem”

1/11/99ISRG Retreat12 Phase 2 Plan: Real Users Deploy some real WorkPad services –Secure –Network HotSync –Group Calendar Widespread use of at least one service –more than 50 users? –highly available/reliable

1/11/99ISRG Retreat13 Historical Perspective New eras of computing start when the previous era is so strong it is hard to imagine that things could 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. So where are we headed in the post-PC era?