SAMSPILL - Commercial Service Design for the Web
by Stig F. Mjølsnes
Samspill is a SINTEF Telecom and Informatics strategic research project,
initiated and funded by SINTEF itself, and carried out in 1997. The goal
is to create knowledge and insight that enables us to meet the demand for
new commercial service design based on Web and Java technology. The problem
focus is on secure multiparty commerce in this context.
It is acknowledged that the Internet is positioned to become the worlds
biggest marketplace, with digital content as a major transnational industry.
Very powerful new types of commercial multiparty applications can be made
feasible by employing Web, Java and emerging real-time stream technology.
In Samspill we are joining forces from several fields of knowledge: cryptographic
protocols, formal logic, reliable distributed transactions and Web implementation
architectures.
Our method of investigation is a combination of design and analysis
of cryptographic protocols for specific, but structural rich applications,
such as auctions and hazard games, while experimenting with implementations
in the emerging Java environment.
The Norwegian noun samspill has a positive connotation, although a direct
translation via Latin results in collude and collusion. Nevertheless, that
relates perfectly to the dichotomy of Internet which we want to address
in our networked application design work, the cooperators vs. the collusors.
A practical exercise in the Samspill project is the research collaboration
itself, and should be mentioned. Currently, researchers from three departments
of SINTEF Telecom and Informatics are participating, one department is
located in Oslo, the other two in Trondheim. In our activities, we're trying
out new experimental collaboration software emerging, in order to gain
valuable experience with such tools, as a side-effect.
We should be happy to hear from people in ERCIM sharing our interest
in multiparty commerce applications.
Please contact:
Stig Mjølsnes - SINTEF Telecom and Informatics
Tel: +47 7359 2024
E-mail: Stig.Mjolsnes@informatics.sintef.no
