Distributed Systems
We Make Services Valuable
The Distributed Systems (DSY) research group of the InIT focuses on scalable and reliable implementation of sophisticated IT-based services. We address questions such as:
- What architecture best suits your specific cloud application?
- Which service model (IaaS, CaaS, PaaS, FaaS, ...) ensures optimal implementation of an application?
- Which tools are needed for development, operation and monitoring of the services?
- How to offer applications "as a service" (SaaS)?
- How to monetize modern IT services?
- How to integrate the "physical world" into complex IT services?
The research group is engaged in international projects within the EU research framework and works closely with partners from the private sector on innovative products within Innosuisse funded or directly financed projects.
The knowledge gained from applied research and development is transferred to students of computer science courses in the following modules:
Cloud Computing
The Init Cloud Computing Lab (ICCLAB) is dedicated to the automated deployment, operation and usage of configurable, highly scalable and resilient IT resources on a pay-per-use basis. In addition to infrastructure virtualization, this includes platform services for automated application delivery, scalable back-end, and monitoring of services and applications.
Service Prototyping
The Service Prototyping Lab (SPLAB) addresses the implementation and validation of complex services in cloud or post-cloud environments. In addition to the migration of existing services to the cloud, the main focus is on modern application architectures (Cloud Native Applications, Microservices, Serverless), the provisioning of tools for optimal implementation, the experimental validation of concepts and their monetization (Cloud Accounting and Billing).
Cloud Robotics
The Init Cloud Comupting Lab (ICCLAB) also addresses the integration of robotic applications into complex networked services. The usage of elastic cloud services allows to extend the capabilities of robots (computing power, context information, artificial intelligence, ...) as well as to manage and coordinate them. Programming frameworks and automation services enable developers to integrate robots into services without having in-depth knowledge at device level.
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On-chain Microcredentials Architecture and Open Source Toolbox Prototype
Digital records of academic achievements, especially in the form of microcredentials, are becoming a strategic topic for universities and education-related government agencies. Moreover, private entities (employers, loan-granting banks) rely on trustworthy digital records with differentiated access levels ...
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Second-Generation Alptrackers with Hub-and-Spoke Signalling and Herd Awareness
Alptracker is the de-facto standard for tracking sheep and cow herds in the Swiss alps. This project advances communication and software support for wide-area herding. It contributes novel hub-spoke animal tracking, capturing movement and behaviour, deriving holistic herd models, and predicting predators and ...
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ThingsAtScale – Audit Logging, Robustness and Resilience in Large-Scale Cloud-Based IoT Event Processing
The objectives of the ThingsAtScale project encompass various advances beyond the state of technology in software stacks for IoT/LoRaWAN, in particular the The Things Stack (TTS) Cloud. It is comprised of research and development tasks around TTS, in particular related to the two main topics audit logging and ...
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Spillner, Josef; Gkikopoulos, Panagiotis; Delgado, Pamela; Choirat, Christine,
2022.
Towards reproducible software studies with MAO and Renku.
SoftwareX.
17(100947).
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2021.100947
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Klingler, Raffael; Trifunovic, Nemanja; Spillner, Josef,
2021.
Beyond @CloudFunction : powerful code annotations to capture serverless runtime patterns [paper].
In:
7th International Workshop on Serverless Computing (WoSC7), online, 6-10 December 2021.
ACM.
pp. 23-28.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1145/3493651.3493669
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Patros, Panos; Spillner, Josef; Papadopoulos, Alessandro V.; Varghese, Blesson; Rana, Omer; Dustdar, Schahram,
2021.
Toward sustainable serverless computing.
IEEE Internet Computing.
25(6), pp. 42-50.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.1109/MIC.2021.3093105
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2021.
FixMyStadtmelder : challenges and solutions in civic services for smart cities and regions [paper].
In:
Mugellini, Elena; Carpanzano, Emanuele, eds.,
Proceedings of the 2nd FTAL Conference 2021 Sustainable Smart Cities and Regions.
FTAL Conference 2021 – Sustainable smart cities and regions, Lugano, Switzerland, 28-29 October 2021.
CEUR Workshop Proceedings.
CEUR Workshop Proceedings ; 3116.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-29523
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Abad, Cristina; Foster, Ian; Herbst, Nikolas; Iosup, Alexandru, eds.,
2021.
Serverless applications and requirement.
Dagstuhl Reports
; 11.
Leibniz:
Schloss-Dagstuhl - Leibniz Zentrum für Informatik.
Available from: https://doi.org/10.4230/DagRep.11.4.34