Living Systems, Complexity & Information Systems Science

The paper examines some of the significant new developments in the epistemological framing of systems theory, and their application within the information and management sciences. Specifically, the article argues that Information Systems (IS) – at its heart a systems-science – requires an ongoing discourse into how the metaphors of ‘living systems’, ‘complex systems’, and ‘complexity’ apply to the theoretical foundations of the IS discipline at large.Pragmatically, the implications of developing a complex and living systems framework to investigate IS phenomena has the capacity to synthesise the very way information systems researchers consider their discipline, and the scientific inquiry of it. The “information system” becomes a decentralised, complex and evolving entity, where notions of chaos theory; system self-organisation; autopoietic and dissipative networks; emergence; entropy; and nonlinear dynamics; provide a rich and novel way to investigate system behaviours, human cognitive behaviours, and the management and business contexts in which those behaviours occur

A management architecture for active networks

In this paper we present an architecture for network and applications management, which is based on the Active Networks paradigm and shows the advantages of network programmability. The stimulus to develop this architecture arises from an actual need to manage a cluster of active nodes, where it is often required to redeploy network assets and modify nodes connectivity. In our architecture, a remote front-end of the managing entity allows the operator to design new network topologies, to check the status of the nodes and to configure them. Moreover, the proposed framework allows to explore an active network, to monitor the active applications, to query each node and to install programmable traps. In order to take advantage of the Active Networks technology, we introduce active SNMP-like MIBs and agents, which are dynamic and programmable. The programmable management agents make tracing distributed applications a feasible task. We propose a general framework that can inter-operate with any active execution environment. In this framework, both the manager and the monitor front-ends communicate with an active node (the Active Network Access Point) through the XML language. A gateway service performs the translation of the queries from XML to an active packet language and injects the code in the network. We demonstrate the implementation of an active network gateway for PLAN (Packet Language for Active Networks) in a forty active nodes testbed. Finally, we discuss an application of the active management architecture to detect the causes of network failures by tracing network events in time

A flexible management gateway for ATM-based networks

Network management is an important issue, especially for new and even complex network technologies such as ATM. At each time, state and operation of all components in the network should be controlled by the network management in order to have a global overview concentrated at one point and to react directly on detected problems. Unfortunately, the management interfaces of current ATM components are very different due to the ongoing standardization and vendor-specific issues. In this paper, we present the ATM Management Gateway (AMG) which can be classified as a proxy management agent. This gateway realizes a well-defined management interface for an ATM component, at which a minimal set of useful management information is provided. In order to adapt the gateway to the interface characteristics of given ATM components, it can be configured very flexible how to obtain the required information (e.g., which protocol has to be used and how information is identified). Moreover, this paper presents a hierarchical architecture for the management of ATM networks which consists of the three levels element management, management middleware, and management applications. The AMG entity represents a main component of the element management and the realized well-defined management interface builds the basis for the whole architecture. Finally, this paper describes how the implemented AMG entity has been successfully evaluated in an ATM testbed

Understanding Leadership in Public Collaborative Context

The paper aims to contribute to theory on collaboration through problematizing and exploring the complexity that characterizes leadership in collaborative contexts and to provide some generative conceptualizations to inform future empirical and conceptual development. It draws on a substantial review of leadership theory relevant to the context of public sector collaboration and provides examples from empirical research on collaboration over the last two decades in the UK and US respectively. It does so by identifying and developing key characteristics of the context, the nature of leadership in relation to context, and leadership agency pertaining to actors who actually make a difference in the process and outcomes of collaboration

Clustering Algorithms for Scale-free Networks and Applications to Cloud Resource Management

In this paper we introduce algorithms for the construction of scale-free networks and for clustering around the nerve centers, nodes with a high connectivity in a scale-free networks. We argue that such overlay networks could support self-organization in a complex system like a cloud computing infrastructure and allow the implementation of optimal resource management policies.Comment: 14 pages, 8 Figurs, Journa

A management architecture for active networks

In this paper we present an architecture for network and applications management, which is based on the Active Networks paradigm and shows the advantages of network programmability. The stimulus to develop this architecture arises from an actual need to manage a cluster of active nodes, where it is often required to redeploy network assets and modify nodes connectivity. In our architecture, a remote front-end of the managing entity allows the operator to design new network topologies, to check the status of the nodes and to configure them. Moreover, the proposed framework allows to explore an active network, to monitor the active applications, to query each node and to install programmable traps. In order to take advantage of the Active Networks technology, we introduce active SNMP-like MIBs and agents, which are dynamic and programmable. The programmable management agents make tracing distributed applications a feasible task. We propose a general framework that can inter-operate with any active execution environment. In this framework, both the manager and the monitor front-ends communicate with an active node (the Active Network Access Point) through the XML language. A gateway service performs the translation of the queries from XML to an active packet language and injects the code in the network. We demonstrate the implementation of an active network gateway for PLAN (Packet Language for Active Networks) in a forty active nodes testbed. Finally, we discuss an application of the active management architecture to detect the causes of network failures by tracing network events in time