Public Funding for Predictable Network Solutions Limited

Ever more aspects of modern society depend on software that consists of several pieces that communicate over broadband, such as web browsers/servers. As the capabilities of the software increase, moving into virtual/augmented reality, remote control of robots, remote medicine/surgery etc., and everyday activities become increasingly broadband-based, it becomes ever more important to be able to test that the inherent variability of broadband networks does not adversely impact the performance of the software. Such testing is currently difficult and expensive, particularly for smaller companies looking to deliver innovative applications. This project aims to deliver a facility for testing the impact of network variability on application performance that is cost-effective and easy to use. It will do this by building on earlier work (partly funded by Innovate UK) that produced a stand-alone network emulator, usable by specialists. This project will turn this into an accessible testing platform suitable for small to medium-sized software development companies by: 1. 'Virtualising' the platform so that it can be run in the 'cloud', making it accessible to companies who cannot afford the investment in a piece of test equipment and easy to integrate with cloud-based applications; 2. Developing an intuitive management model and user-interface for the platform.

With society’s increasing dependence on ICT, the need for means to predict and assure the performance of critical infrastructure grows. Today, the performance of large-scale CPS and System of Systems is often an unplanned emergent property that can vary substantially during operational lifetime. Although this hazard is sometimes validated as part of system commissioning, it often it finds its way into deployed systems, substantially impinging on the their long term usefulness as well as increasing their total lifetime costs. There are mature mathematical techniques to capture, validate and verify the performance (and resource cost) of such systems. This feasibility study aims to investigate the technical issues of how to most effectively incorporate these techniques into the workflow of organisations so that they can extract the benefits.

The Overture Testbed project aims to clearly demonstrate both the problems and potential solutions involved in delivering high performance, web/network based services over current infrastructure. Ongoing studies have demonstrated problems with modern network infrastructure, globally and nationally, as demand rises. Whilst these problems have been largely masked by a continuous increase in network infrastructure capacity, the fundamental problems remain. These problems are exposed by an ever more rapid requirement for capacity/bandwidth upgrades (raising costs of delivery). The continuing demand for many types of services, in particular video and interactive services, exacerbates the need for capacity whilst adding to quality variability. At the same time, these are precisely the services that are sensitive to such variability. Interaction with content is becoming a greater part of proposed services, such as online gaming and personalised fashion retailing. Applications that aim to do this need to be tested in a realistic network environment to assess their ability to function in target networks, both nationally and globally. The number of personal network-connected devices (smartphones, tablets, etc.) is growing, as is consumer engagement with them. In order to continue serving consumers well, and to open up new ways of interacting with them, the need for better testing in real-world scenarios is becoming more pressing. The Overture Testbed aims to create a platform and/or service through which testing can be conducted reliably and repeatably by both large and small enterprises. The testbed will be a developer-controlled, end-to-end delivery environment which emulates web services and networks over diverse and realistic loading conditions. This will facilitate the construction of apps and services that deliver more consistent higher quality experiences, to end users. The testbed will therefore enable better user experiences and improved commercial viability.

Awaiting Public Summary