Nortel Networks Prize

1
Nortel Networks Prize

• Electronic Infrastructure for Service Providers

2
Project Background

• Eoin O Fiachain4th Electronic Computer
  Engineering
• Project Vision
• To provide an engineering solution that will
  allow for automation of the processes associated
  with purchasing/providing time-based services
• Proposed development of such a system as Final
  Year Project in Sept. 2003
• Conceptualised, designed and developed a product
  to meet these goals over past 8 months under the
  direction of Dr. Owen Molloy

3
Marketplace Operation

• Providers continously run software that responds
  with quotes to queries from clients
• Providers register with repositories (Agencies)
• Quotes are automatically generated by pricing
  algorithms operating with a knowledge of the
  providers schedules
• Clients search the Agencies for suitable
  providers, and query each provider for a quote
  within defined parameters
• Clients can then purchase the most suitable
  (lowest cost) quote

4
Economic Case for Project

• Reduction in Transaction Costs
• A transaction cost is the cost incurred in making
  an economic exchange.
• Transaction costs have a significant and growing
  bearing on the operation of markets (estimated to
  form more than 40 of overall cost burden in the
  private sector)
• Optimisation of Market
• Market more accessible to purchasers providers
• More flexibile pricing is enabled by automated
  algorithmic mechanisms
• Elimination of bulk of ex-ante transaction costs

5
Divergence from Existing Models

• Adoption of Service Provision Market
• Degree of Flexibility in Pricing
• Degree of Automation
• Universal Access
• Universal Application
• Centripetal Querying Model
• Distributed Nature of System
• Ease of Deployment

6
System Overview

• Three entities require software
• Service Providers
• Market Supply
• Clients / Purchasers
• Market Demand
• Agencies
• Link supply to demand
• Provide regulatory functionality

7
System Overview
8
Intercomponent Communications

• Web Services
• Programmable logical units that can be remotely
  accessed using web technologies
• SOAP
• XML
• WSDL
• HTTP/HTTPS
• UDDI
• Language and object-model independent
• Security
• HTTP Authentication via Challenge/Response
• HTTPS Secure Socket Layer encrypted HTTP

9
Client Component

• Enables purchasers of services to search for
  suitable providers
• Searches marketplace for all suitable providers,
  by querying the Agency component via UDDI
• Queries each providers web services for a quote
  within particular time constraints
• Summarises and displays responses
• Allows user to purchase a quote from a provider,
  validating via the Agency compontent
• .NET application developed in C

10
Client Component GUI
11
Taxonomies

• Classification of services into categories
• Partially supported by UDDI
• Additional taxonomy functionality achieved
  through additional WASP taxonomy web services

12
Shared-Component Elements

• Communications Framework
• Separates communications logic from application
  logic by encapsulating communications tasks into
  distinct elements known as commands
• Each command runs in a separate thread and its
  progress is monitored by the parent application
• Communications errors are trapped and reported by
  parent application in a generalized manner
• Settings Storage
• Basic application settings serialized to and from
  XML settings files.

13
Service Provider Component

• Service Provider Web Services
• Services that provides quotes and provider
  information to clients. Constantly run on IIS.
• Provides centralised location for storage of all
  necessary data for service provider, and
  appropriate interfaces to the GUI.
• Developed in C with ASP.NET
• MySQL DB backend with SQL/ADO.NET interface
• Service Provider GUI
• Allows provider to view and manage his system
• Providers schedule and settings can be altered
• Developed in C

14
Service Provider GUI
15
GUI Server Synchronization

• Synchronization process determines what data
  needs to be uploaded / downloaded from the server
• Also updates any public changes with agencies
• Foreground synchronization (initiated by user)
  and background synchronization (automatic
  initiation)
• Icons indicate success/failure of each transfer
• Scaleable, Modular and Intuitive

16
Pricing Schemes

• Dynamic pricing structures for maximum
  flexibility. Includes
• Price Settings general parameters
• Price Rules specific conditions
• Default rule-based scheme included. Allows
  custom rules on the basis of
• Time of day
• Day of week
• Month of year
• Storage flexibility achieved through XML DB
  transformations

17
Automated Quote Generation

• Given a Pricing Scheme together with a Time
  Schedule, the minimum cost must be determined for
  each quote
• Schedule firstly segmented by discontinuities
  into regions of homogenous cost
• To determine combination of regions of minimum
  cost
• Greedy algorithim for fragmented time queries
• Refined brute force approach proposed for
  non-fragmented queries.
• Refined approach better than

18
Agency Settings Storage
19
Agency Component

• UDDI Server
• Uses existing WASP UDDI server
• Provides an eletronic repository for service
  providers and the services they offer
• Purchase Validator Component
• Developed in Java and the J2EE JAX-RPC API. Runs
  on the Apache Tomcat server
• Validates a purchase request by matching a
  combination of a code, quote identifier and cost
  received from the client, with similar
  information received from the provider.
• Code is a cryptographically secure random 64 bits

20
Software Engineering

• Controlled Iteration lifecycle model adopted
• Extensive supporting UML design documentation
• Self-documenting code through embedded XML
  comments
• Source code-base size

21
Conclusion

• Designed and developed product that provides
• Universal marketplace for service providers
• A reduction in transaction costs
• Replaces physical processes for seeking and
  availing of service providers with automated
  processes
• Easier access to larger segments of the overall
  market
• Increase in flexibility of pricing structures
• Clients can receive quotes on a query-by-query
  basis
• Wide range of circumstances can be employed in
  price quoting. More closely reflects provider
  working realities.
• More optimum allocation of resources
• Extensible and adaptable framework

22
Conclusion

• Project demonstration to follow
• Technical issues/design discussed in greater
  depth in Project Report
• More information athttp//www.eoinofiachain.com/
  fyp/

Any questions?