Collaborative File System (CFS)

60400 The size and significance of most research, development, or business activities require teams of people to work together. However, the majority of collaborative tools today are application specific and require collaborators to develop new or additional skills with computing proficiency. This project will develop an alternative approach that will propel collaboration forward by employing a collaboration engine that allows for the mirroring of key files across a group of users. This application-independent service would allow all existing single or multi-user applications to be used in a more collaborative manner across existing infrastructures. In Phase I, a mirroring prototype was developed to demonstrate the feasibility of real time mirroring as a service, and its application independence was verified. Additionally, the requirements for a kernel set of mirroring components needed to provide for thick or thin features to a client system were examined, while addressing contention, security, and scalability issues. Phase II will research the intelligence elements necessary for a client agent and server agent and develop client and server software components that provide for a powerful and robust mirroring capability. Additionally, contention, security, and scalability features will be built into the kernel components. Commercial Applications and Other Benefits as described by the awardee: The collaborative engine, built on mirroring and agents, should work across heterogeneous platforms and enable the conversion of existing single-user or multi-user applications into collaborative tools without requiring any changes to the client operating environments, the servers, or other existing infrastructure.