User-Centered Services at Internet Edge

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How is the Internet evolving? Several visions of the future collide: Internet of things, Mobile, Content-oriented or Cloud-based; yet it is clear that the evolution from today's Internet demands a convergence between such, rather radical, perspectives. Meanwhile, key issues in the use of the Internet, such as performance in access, quality of service and security remain critical issues, further encumbered by the emergence of IPv6 which raises the challenge of the transition from the current technology base to a new infrastructure, with a deep impact for the general public. In this context, much work remains to be done on finding the most suitable ways to orchestrate the different usages of the Internet into a coordinated, efficient, pleasant, convenient - and secure! - experience for the general public. Some applications remain end-to-end while others are cloud-based; some information should remain at the home while other can be moved into the cloud. A simple server-to-cloud migration is not satisfactory for applications where latency and quality remain key factors, especially multimedia. Yet even as technology and architectures evolve rapidly, the specific concerns of users and the quality of their experience of the Internet tends to be neglected. This research will investigate a new paradigm in the experience of the Internet, which extends the work I have already laid out with the "edge cloud", the deployment of cloud-like functions at the periphery of the Internet, in partnership with or under the control of the Internet Service Provider (ISP) controlling the access network, thus leading to new business opportunities. The research objectives are multiple, and focus mostly on the security and performance impact of the break up of the traditional desktop and client-server functions in a three tier home-edge-core model, and the study of the benefits of this break up for a variety of user-oriented services based at the edge, with a strong emphasis on multimedia, which has been identified as the strongest growth sector of the Internet.