Synchronizing Replicated Data in Mobile Distributed Networks

By Malcolm Colton, Lonnie VanZandt

February 10, 2003

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Distributed networks of cooperative agents are growing in complexity, and are spreading through our society's infrastructure. Examples include automotive telematics systems; industrial automation and process control systems; Bluetooth wireless personal area networks; electronic commerce relationships; and telecommunications, networking, cable, and radio networks.

These systems contain distributed nodes that collectively process shared data to provide their respective services. The data flowing through these networks includes economic data such as customer relationship management and subscriber data, billing records, quality of service parameters, and performance monitoring; product lifecycle data such as methodology artifacts, documentation, trouble reports, software code, test cases, and software releases; command, control, and configuration data such as component topologies, service provisioning, and routing tables for packet forwarding; and Personal Information Management "content" such as documents, contacts, multimedia, and messages.

We review the challenges these systems encounter and describe a new data management solution.

Challenges

Data management systems combine administration techniques with storage technologies to assure that data retains its value and remains readily accessible. Administration techniques are necessary to maintain the value of data; they enforce access rules as well as business logic, semantic consistency, and referential integrity. Storage technologies are necessary to keep data available; their job is to eliminate single points of failure, reduce transmission impairments, and provide high bandwidth access.

Distributed networks contain numerous devices with widely varying capabilities. Consider the disparity in processor performance, memory, and persistent storage between the controller of telecommunications switch and a typical PDA. Scalability issues arise because solutions optimized for a network's interior are inappropriate for devices along the periphery.

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