EECS Research into the Post-PC Era

1. EECS Research into the Post-PC Era David Culler U.C. Berkeley Feb 25, 1999 http://postPC.cs.berkeley.edu

2. Natural Tides of Innovation Innovation ?? Integration Personal Computer Workstation Server Log R Minicomputer Mainframe 2/99 Time darpa visit

3. Exciting components darpa visit

4. Historical Perspective • New eras of computing start when the previous era is so strong it is hard to imagine that things could ever 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. • Technology spread increases • So where are we headed in the post-PC era? darpa visit

5. Away from the “average device” • Powerful, personal capabilities from specialized devices • small, highly mobile or embedded in the environment • Intelligence + immense storage and processing in the infrastructure • Everything connected Devices Laptops, Desktops darpa visit

6. Your PDA connects to the local infrastructure and asks it to build a custom GUI • Next, your PDA asks the infrastructure for a path out to your personal information space, where agents are processing your e-mail, v-mail, faxes, and pages You have complete, secure, optimized access to local devices and your private resources Imagine • You walk into a room darpa visit

7. Internet-Scale Systems Perspective • ~10 Billion of Information Appliances • ~100 Million of Stationary Computers • ~Million Scalable Servers darpa visit

8. Complement to industry efforts • Get maximum number of applications first • 1990 PC capality in handheld device • microkernel port of Unix or Windows • emulate vast API • Turn devices into appliances • Mobile extension of dedicated PC • take short excursion and synch • Success of the Palm Pilot with primitive OS and split application model is significant • it’s the approach, not the technical superiority • Need to develop foundations for next generation darpa visit

9. Seeds sewn in many projects • Devices - Infopad, IRAM • Scalable Servers - NOW, Millennium • Storage - Tertiary Disk, Istore, Aetherstore • Sensors and Actuators - BSAC • Connectivity - BWRC • Transcoding Services - Wingman, Mediaboard • Platform Architecture - Ninja • Computing/Telephony Integration - Iceberg • Programming Enviornments and Tools • User interfaces - Notepals darpa visit

10. Building the Bazaar • What we need is not just a new research project, but a new “computing culture” => Build a department-wide, universal wireless PDA infrastructure and a community to take it forward • Initial Seed Fall 98 with IBM • 150+ IBM workpads + lots of cradles + IR + ??? • Initial community • Ninja, ICEBERG, MASH grad students • Senior UI Class (CS 160) • All interested 1st year CS grads (CS 252, 261, 262 projects) • Fill out based on interest, talent and availability => “ask a good question and get yours” seminar darpa visit

11. Fall’98 Project Excerpts • E-Commerce and Security • Pay-Per-Use Services on the Palm Computing Platform (Mike Chen, Andrew Geweke) • Secure Email 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 • Excellent UI Projects • Ink Chat, Nutrition/Excercise Tracker, Rendezvous - Meeting Scheduler darpa visit

12. Some Lessons • Communication is enabling • low-power wireless needs to be like IP • Virtual Environment is important • Devices connect “into the infrastructure” • Network HotSync, groupware, centralized e-mail => Need lean, clean communication substrate • “User Service” is fundamental • not just profile and customization info • routing point for security • Much room for improvement in devices • trade BW for compute or storage • Development effort is the limiting factor • OSKI: 1 person for infrastructure, 2 for WorkPad => need complete distributed system debugging and simulation environment darpa visit

13. Massive Cluster Clusters Gigabit Ethernet Servers Desktop PCs Wireless Infrastructure Future Devices Cell Phones PDAs Momentum Building • Deploy postPC infrastructure throughout building • Millennium provides large-scale testbed • Ninja architecture allows developers to “Push Services into the Infrastructure” darpa visit

14. Oceanic Vision: fluid software • devices everywhere • backed by massive, fluid data storage and composible services • operating systems for vastly diverse devices • down to sensors and actuators • streaming data management • data derived from sensors and activities, not key entry • incremental query • automated negotiation architecture • derive organization from activities • social networking • computational economies darpa visit

15. Roles, Collaboration, and Environment • Bold, Rich PostPC Agenda Emerging • New balance of expertise and technology between industry and university • devices, components, networks, applications, users • New roles and relationships in collaboration • how do we share space, environment, culture, not just technology • Fundamentally new demands on the research space • ability to deploy smart spaces on a large scale • experimental wireless networking • new modes of human interaction • It’s not just what we build, but how we use it darpa visit