Communications of the ACM
A Security Model for the Information Mesh
A Security Model for the Information Mesh
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With the growth in the Internet and network-based community, comes an interest in building applications independently of the information or data on which they will operate. In conjunction with this divergence of information from application and significant growth in the amount of information available on the net the issues of longevity are taking a more prominent position. As investment in information grows, the amount of information that has long-term value also grows. The URLs (Uniform Resource Locators) used as identifiers and access methods for Web documents will not, and in fact even now do not, suffice. Tying identification to location and access protocol leads to significant problems as information moves, underlying storage facilities are reorganized, or as different access protocols are needed. Furthermore, we will experience evolution many dimensions. Applications and the sorts of information on which they operate will evolve. Existing information is likely to evolve. The underlying transport mechanisms are continually evolving to meet higher or new demands. The question we as researchers must ask ourselves is how do we design a system that is prepared for the problems of longevity, with the long-term future in mind, rather than working only to solve the problems of the present, as we have so often done.My current research project is the Information Mesh, the design of an information infrastructure architecture which has among its primary goals the support of longevity, mobility, and evolvability. In this note, I will briefly summarize the goals and highlights of the architecture of the Information Mesh. The note will conclude with a description of some of the significant ways in which it addresses mobility and evolvability. It should be noted that this work is described in more detail in [11, 9]. In this note I will only refer briefly to differences between the Information Mesh and the World Wide Web, CORBA and OLE.