Improving the Performance, Scalability and Reliability of the Linux Operating System. This project aims to improve the scalability of the Linux operating system to large systems without loss of performance on small, embedded, systems. It will improve Linux robustness and security by de-privileging particularly error-prone code, such as device drivers, without undue impact on performance. It will improve configurability and ease tuning by making critical components, such as processor, disk and me ....Improving the Performance, Scalability and Reliability of the Linux Operating System. This project aims to improve the scalability of the Linux operating system to large systems without loss of performance on small, embedded, systems. It will improve Linux robustness and security by de-privileging particularly error-prone code, such as device drivers, without undue impact on performance. It will improve configurability and ease tuning by making critical components, such as processor, disk and memory schedulers, pluggable and their policies controllable at user level. It will investigate the feasibility and benefits of user-level file systems and processor and memory scheduling and will demonstrate that these can improve system reliability without undermining performance.Read moreRead less
Operating systems meeting the challenges of modern computer architectures. This project will develop operating system techniques that allow extracting the best performance out of modern computer architectures. It will concentrate on the latest architecture, Itanium, whose innovative features make it a particular challenge for operating systems. The techniques will be implemented in the open source Linux operating system and will result in significantly reduced operating system overheads and enh ....Operating systems meeting the challenges of modern computer architectures. This project will develop operating system techniques that allow extracting the best performance out of modern computer architectures. It will concentrate on the latest architecture, Itanium, whose innovative features make it a particular challenge for operating systems. The techniques will be implemented in the open source Linux operating system and will result in significantly reduced operating system overheads and enhanced application performance.Read moreRead less
Next Generation Grid Enabled Cluster Computers: Performance Optimisation for e-Science. In partnership with a local computer company this project will develop cost effective cluster computing solutions assembled from off-the-shelf parts for $50,000-$200,000. This price range is currently relatively poorly serviced by the multinational computer vendors, who tend to focus on the high density compute systems necessary for very large cluster systems. As a consequence the development of high performa ....Next Generation Grid Enabled Cluster Computers: Performance Optimisation for e-Science. In partnership with a local computer company this project will develop cost effective cluster computing solutions assembled from off-the-shelf parts for $50,000-$200,000. This price range is currently relatively poorly serviced by the multinational computer vendors, who tend to focus on the high density compute systems necessary for very large cluster systems. As a consequence the development of high performance computing in Australia has been somewhat stifled compared to the US or UK, where there exist small niche companies servicing this market sector. This project aims to change this, developing affordable high performance cluster computing systems for the Australian market place and beyond.Read moreRead less
Tracing real Internet attackers through information correlation. If this research accomplishes successfully, it will be a big step forward on tracing Internet attackers in terms of traceback scope, accuracy, usability and deployment. This will empower authorities to control and punish Internet crime and terrorism. It will also greatly reduce the damage caused by Internet crime and terrorism. The prototype of the distributed information correlation tracing system can possibly be patented or even ....Tracing real Internet attackers through information correlation. If this research accomplishes successfully, it will be a big step forward on tracing Internet attackers in terms of traceback scope, accuracy, usability and deployment. This will empower authorities to control and punish Internet crime and terrorism. It will also greatly reduce the damage caused by Internet crime and terrorism. The prototype of the distributed information correlation tracing system can possibly be patented or even be commercialised. The capability of a nation to trace the real source of any attacks on its information infrastructure is central to the control of such attacks and hence to a nation's long-term survival and prosperity.Read moreRead less
Dynamic Cooperative Performance Optimizations. This project seeks to improve the reliability, security, and
performance of modern software systems. Security is a problem of such
scale that outbreaks of computer viruses etc. headline in major
financial newspapers. We approach the problem by addressing the key
performance problems that hold back the programming languagues widely
used for secure and reliable systems. By improving the reliability,
security and performance of computer system ....Dynamic Cooperative Performance Optimizations. This project seeks to improve the reliability, security, and
performance of modern software systems. Security is a problem of such
scale that outbreaks of computer viruses etc. headline in major
financial newspapers. We approach the problem by addressing the key
performance problems that hold back the programming languagues widely
used for secure and reliable systems. By improving the reliability,
security and performance of computer systems, this project will help
alleviate the millions of hours and dollars lost to inadvertent errors
and malicious software attacks. The project will give Australia an
international presence in a research area of great academic and
commercial importance.Read moreRead less
Enhancing computer user productivity of integrated enterprise wide systems: an intervention study. This project addresses a critical issue in IT investment and productivity. Current theoretical models of user training and acceptance have not contributed to the effectiveness of implementing new integrated enterprise wide systems. This study will identify key indiviudal differences that predict user motivation to learn and utilize such systems under mandatory conditions. A longitudinal study in ....Enhancing computer user productivity of integrated enterprise wide systems: an intervention study. This project addresses a critical issue in IT investment and productivity. Current theoretical models of user training and acceptance have not contributed to the effectiveness of implementing new integrated enterprise wide systems. This study will identify key indiviudal differences that predict user motivation to learn and utilize such systems under mandatory conditions. A longitudinal study in two field settings will test the impact of selected interventions on task performance following training. The outcomes will inform Australian industry on models of effective implementation and provide guidance to increase the productivity of personnel using software systems.Read moreRead less
Dynamic Load Balancing for Systems under Heavy Traffic Demand and High Task Size Variation. Current computer systems cannot cope with extremely heavy traffic demands. A solution to such a difficult problem is to dynamically balance the load across the system's servers. Several solutions have been proposed and demonstrate advances in certain limited conditions (e.g. uniform distribution). However fundamental research work must be undertaken beyond the current way of dealing with the core issues o ....Dynamic Load Balancing for Systems under Heavy Traffic Demand and High Task Size Variation. Current computer systems cannot cope with extremely heavy traffic demands. A solution to such a difficult problem is to dynamically balance the load across the system's servers. Several solutions have been proposed and demonstrate advances in certain limited conditions (e.g. uniform distribution). However fundamental research work must be undertaken beyond the current way of dealing with the core issues of load balancing. Accounting for realistic conditions is a theoretical and practical challenge. This project aims at developing theoretical and computational models for dynamic task distribution for the studied systems. The benefits include substantial improvement of the system response time.Read moreRead less
Megha: Utility-Oriented Federation of Cloud Computing Environments for Scaling of Application Services. In the next 20 years, service-oriented computing will play an important role in shaping the industry, impacting the way business is conducted and how services are delivered and managed. This paradigm will have major impact on the services economy, which contributes significantly towards Australia's GDP. With the increased demand for delivering services to a large number of users, providers are ....Megha: Utility-Oriented Federation of Cloud Computing Environments for Scaling of Application Services. In the next 20 years, service-oriented computing will play an important role in shaping the industry, impacting the way business is conducted and how services are delivered and managed. This paradigm will have major impact on the services economy, which contributes significantly towards Australia's GDP. With the increased demand for delivering services to a large number of users, providers are looking for novel ways of hosting their application services on Clouds at low cost while meeting users' quality of service expectations. This project develops novel utility-oriented technologies for federation of Clouds to support scaling of application services and thereby, transform the Australian service industry and economy.Read moreRead less
Service Level Agreement (SLA)-oriented Resource Allocation for Data Centers and Cloud Computing Systems. In the next 20 years, service-oriented computing will play an important role in shaping the industry and the way business is conducted and services are delivered and managed. This paradigm will have major impact on service economy, which contributes significantly towards Australia's GDP. The service sector, which includes health, financial, and government services, involves significant intera ....Service Level Agreement (SLA)-oriented Resource Allocation for Data Centers and Cloud Computing Systems. In the next 20 years, service-oriented computing will play an important role in shaping the industry and the way business is conducted and services are delivered and managed. This paradigm will have major impact on service economy, which contributes significantly towards Australia's GDP. The service sector, which includes health, financial, and government services, involves significant interaction between clients and providers. With increasing dependency on ICT technologies in their realization, major advances are required in service-driven allocation of resources to competing applications. This project develops technologies for Service Level Agreement (SLA)-based allocation of Data Center/Cloud computing system resources to applications.Read moreRead less
InterGrid: Peering Architecture and Policies for Internetworking Disparate Grids. Grid computing enables the creation of Cyberinfrastructure for e-Research applications. It is recognised as one of the top five emerging technologies that will have a major impact on the quality of science and society over the next 20 years. Several nations around the world including Australia have developed their own national Grids based on the notion of virtual organisations. These dispersed Grid initiatives have ....InterGrid: Peering Architecture and Policies for Internetworking Disparate Grids. Grid computing enables the creation of Cyberinfrastructure for e-Research applications. It is recognised as one of the top five emerging technologies that will have a major impact on the quality of science and society over the next 20 years. Several nations around the world including Australia have developed their own national Grids based on the notion of virtual organisations. These dispersed Grid initiatives have resulted in Grid islands without any support for peering arrangements between them. This limitation will not allow us to realise full potential of the Grid computing paradigm. This InterGrid project aims to revolutionise Grid computing by developing new technologies for peering of Grids.Read moreRead less