Planning the introduction of IPv6 in NATO, Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2006, nr 3

The NATO wide area network provides secure IP services to NATO commands and agencies, and offers information exchange gateways to nations and coalition operations. The IP services support the NATO-wide deployment of core automated information systems (AIS), and the placement of specific functional area services (e.g., intelligence, logistics, C2IS for the services, etc.) at commands. To maintain and improve interoperability within NATO and with partners, NATO will transition from version four of the Internet Protocol (IPv4) to version six (IPv6). The transition to IPv6 will involve the IP network, the information exchange gateways, the core AIS, the functional area services, and the supporting CIS infrastructure. The IPv6 naming and addressing plan being developed supports the NATO command structure and interoperability with NATO partners. The critical issue in the planning process is to support the incremental introduction of IPv6 whilst maintaining network security and reliable interworking with existing IPv4 systems and limiting increases in operations and maintenance costs. To minimise costs and maximise effectiveness NATO is planning the transition in a timescale that is commensurate with commercial adoption in NATO countries, the technology refreshment points for major systems, and the availability of IPv6 security components. New NATO projects will prepare for the transition by detailing their IPv6 upgrade path and procuring dual stack (IPv4 and IPv6) equipment. NATO will develop and adopt standardised approaches for IPv6 protocols and network design

Journal of Telecommunications and Information Technology, 2006, nr 3

kwartalni

A UI-driven approach to facilitating effective development of rich and composite web applications

It is well-recognized that the development of user interfaces is one of the most time-consuming tasks in the overall application development process. At the same time, there is an increasing demand for rich and fluid user interfaces from web users. As a result, developers are facing increasing challenges in delivering web applications, especially those with rich UI requirements. In this thesis we present two solutions to facilitate the execution and rapid development of web applications with rich user interfaces. The first solution is a rich internet application (RIA) framework aimed at providing high usability and productivity to web applications, while the second solution is a UI integration framework that simplifies web application development by facilitating the composition of reusable UI components. The foundation of our RIA framework is an XML-based high-level protocol for communicating asynchronous events and incremental UI updates on the web. The protocol facilitates rich and highly interactive UI, while at the same time eliminates frequent and slow page refreshes and provides a more responsive user experience. Built on top of the protocol, a server-side runtime allows UI logic code to be executed on the server side, while a set of server-side event-driven API enables developers to implement sophisticated application-specific UI behavior. On the client side, a thin client renders UI and processes native events, but leaves application-specific logic to the server side. The thin client thus allows end users to enjoy a rich UI experience in a safe client environment, without executing any downloaded code. The proposed UI integration framework includes an abstract UI component model which allows UI components to be programmatically manipulated via events, operations, and properties, essentially exposing UI as services. To facilitate component interactions, the framework offers an event-based composition model, which allows integration logic to be specified in the form of event listeners. Composite applications are executed via a lightweight runtime middleware, which provides component adapters that allow the middleware to communicate with native UI components implemented in a variety of languages and platforms. Finally, a graphical development environment allows composite applications to be built in a drag-and-drop fashion