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Webinos
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webinos is a research initiative partly funded by the European Commission. Webinos was launched in mid 2010, and brings together a multidisciplinary group of partners spanning academic institutions, industry research firms, software firms, handset manufacturers and automotive manufacturers. webinos will define and deliver an Open Source platform and software components for the Future Internet in the form of web runtime extensions, and complementary infrastructure components, to enable web applications and services to be used and shared consistently and securely over a broad spectrum of converged and connected devices, including mobile, PC, home media (TV) and in-car units. webinos promotes the “single service for every device” vision by providing the necessary technical specification in order to move the existing baseline of web development from installed applications to services, running consistently across a wide range of connected devices. History The webinos idea was born around early 2009, driven by the vision to see web applications running on a range of connected devices. A consortium, formed of a group of companies submitted the idea to an EU call for funding research projects on future internet. Webinos (initially named "wax") was amongst the highest rated in the group and the official approval of EU-co-funding was received in February 2010. Overview Vision Webinos is a collective framework to make the web work for applications. Webinos builds a multi-device, applications platform based on web technology that: * Allows web applications to run seamlessly across multiple devices and to use resources across devices * Allows web applications to communicate with other web applications and (non web components) over multiple device* links the application experience with the social network * Achieves all of the above in a security preserving manner * Explicitly targets the four distinct “screens”: the mobile, the PC, the in-car (automotive) and the home media (TV) devices The webinos platform is being built upon a solid background of open standards. This terminal platform implementation will be accessible to all as an open source asset. Technically, webinos is reusing and advancing the core development technologies that have already proven themselves on the Web such as HTML (in its latest version) and (version 8), affording the benefits of speed of development and access to a large developer talent community. By embracing an open web culture, webinos creates an application framework that does not favour any particular corporation, and on which may parties can collaborate, and from which many companies benefit. Web-based Application Platform The webinos platform features the following key concepts: * Webinos builds on the achievements of the Web community and extends an open source web runtime environment. * Webinos represents a leap forward: it is a federated web runtime that offers a common set of APIs to allow applications easy access to cross-user cross-service cross-device functionality in an open yet secure manner. * Webinos aims at easy programming of applications by offering a single virtual device that can consist of all devices owned by a user. This device inherently represents the changing circumstances of context and devices. * Webinos creates open specifications and open source reference implementations that not only show the feasibility of the specifications but also simplify their adaptation by the industry. The resulting platform features web components that support the rapid creation of innovative and secure web applications, where * Services can be used in several contexts across all user devices, * Services can make use of the specific capabilities and resources the underlying hardware platform provides, * Services can securely access private and non-private data and services on the cloud, social web, as well as data on the user terminal, * Services are developed once by service providers and deployed anywhere, and * Manufacturers and network operators have a service platform constituted by open standards and open source, which satisfies the requirements of the four domains mobile, PC, Home media and in-car units. Security The webinos platform will directly address security and privacy issues as part of Quality of Service that users of web services expect. The addressed challenges comprise: how to provision and adapt security across a range of devices, services, networks as well as how individuals can gain control over the privacy aspects of their web presence regardless of the service that is being used. Context and privacy are intimately intertwined: rich context is valuable but without user controlled privacy it becomes a liability. Context and security are intimately intertwined: rich context is valuable but without user empowered security it becomes a liability. This dual approach is a hallmark of the webinos approach. Specification and Development The specification and development of webinos will be carried out in two 18-month-cycles, each encompassing the same set of activities: # Requirement analysis # Specification # Development # Proof-of-Concept and Evaluation Early Deliverables Upon concluding its requirements analysis activities webinos has produced four reports. Use Cases and Scenarios This report describes a set of user stories and use cases as input for the subsequent work packages. The goal is to define the scope of the webinos project focusing on new innovative services, which today do not exist, but could be realized within the next 3 years. The user stories and use cases are usable across the different domains: mobile, PC, automotive and home media devices. Requirements & developer experience analysis This report describes the methodologies and the outcomes of the Requirements activity. Building upon a proven (detailed description of the use case scenarios delivered in use cases & scenarios activity) and upon a novel (Developer experience analysis) process, it provides the basis for the identification and definition of the requirements. User expectations on privacy and security This report provides three significant contributions: a high level review of the state of the art in user expectations of security and privacy, a detailed model of the context of use of webinos based on the user stories and use cases created in other deliverables, and a high level threat analysis based on this context of use. Industry landscape, governance, licensing and IPR frameworks This report identifies the supporting elements needed to deliver the webinos system. It assesses (a) state of the art technologies, which may be used to realize the identified use cases for the Future Internet, and to cover the requirements of the webinos system and APIs (b) related industry activities and (c) the supporting governance, licensing and IPR frameworks. 3rd Party Engagement The webinos consortium comprises mobile phone manufacturers, telecommunication operators, application providers, car industries, universities, and applied research. The objective is the development of a secure application platform that facilitates the creation of applications for multiple heterogeneous devices and operating systems, overcomes restrictions implied by proprietary and vendor-specific technologies, and enables the rapid creation of more personalized, secure, and innovative applications. Under this prim, the consortium has an ongoing affiliate activity running aiming to bring to the project further expertise in the form of use-cases and requirements or through direct participate in the specification process and open source development. Further information on the webinos affiliate programme can be obtained by contacting hello@webinos.org. See Also
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