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by Andreas Gehlert last modified Apr 22, 2012 19:48

Overview of S-Cube's Activities

S-Cube, the Software Services and Systems Network, was a 7th framework programme running from 01/03/2008 to 29/02/2012 and integrated research communities to address Service-Oriented computing research challenges. S-Cube established a Network of Excellence enabling Europe to lead in the fields of Service and Software Architectures, Infrastructures and Engineering.

 

The consortium included 16 partners and 17 associate members. As well as research findings, outcomes of the project include a European program of education and the establishment of trust relationships with industry. 

 

Motivation

An integration of research expertise and an intense collaboration of researchers in the field of software services and systems are needed to address the following key problems:

  • Research fragmentation: Current research activities are fragmented and research communities (e.g., grid computing, software engineering) concentrate mostly on their own specific techniques and methodologies. As a result proposed solutions are not aligned with or influenced by activities in related research fields.
  • Future Challenges: One challenge for instance is to build service-based systems that can self-adapt in response to changes in their environment while still guaranteeing their expected level of service quality.

Expected Impact

S-Cube pursued the following objectives which will have a long-lasting impact on European research:

  • Re-shaping and integrating research agendas of key European players from diverse research areas, leading to a long-lasting foundation for steering research and achieving innovation at the highest level.
  • Inaugurating a Europe-wide common program of education and training for researchers and industry.
  • Establishing a pro-active mobility plan to enable cross-fertilisation and foster the integration of research communities and a common software services research culture.
  • Establishing trust relationships with industry to shape European research and strengthen industrial competitiveness.
  • Defining a broader research vision and perspective to shape the software-service based Internet of the future.

Technical Approach

To reach the above objectives, S-Cube brought together over 70 researchers and over 50 Ph.D. students from 16 institutions, which jointly carried out the following activities:

Activities

Figure 1: The S-Cube Activities
Management IA-3 IA-2 IA-1 SoE-1 JRA-1 JRA-2

Integration Activities 

Integration activities tackle fragmentation and isolation of research by different means:

  • IA-1: By developing a knowledge model capturing service terminology and S-Cube partners’ research competences. This will help eliminate research duplication and better adjust research activities.
  • IA-2: By providing a program of education and training for researchers as well as an intensive mobility plan within the network to achieve a cross-fertilisation of knowledge and durable research integration.
  • IA-3: By integrating and validating the results from the two joint research activities using pilot industry case studies and other empirical research methods.

Joint Research Activities

Work in S-Cube was guided by the S-Cube research framework which distinguishes between principles and methods for engineering and adapting service-based systems and the technology used to realize those systems while taking into account cross-cutting issues like Quality of Service (QoS) and SLA compliance. The two joint research activities provided the following research results:

  • JRA-1: Engineering, adaptation and quality assurance methodologies for service-based applications.
  • JRA-2: Realisation mechanisms for service-based systems within the different layers of a service-based application.

 

Framework Purple

Figure 2: The S-Cube Research Framework

To achieve coherent, integrated and consistent research results, the research activities were guided by the integration activity IA-3 devoted to baselining, extending, validating and improving the research contributions of S-Cube.

Spreading of Excellence Activity

This activity (SoE-1)  ensured a broad dissemination of research results and enhanced the public visibility of S-Cube research. This includes the S-Cube Web Portal, the organisation of international conferences, specialised workshops and summer schools, and a European Ph.D. programme.

Management Activity

Activity (Mgt-1) was devoted to the management of the S-Cube network.

 

The S-Cube Factsheet

You can also find the above information in compact form in the S-Cube factsheet, in a Projects magazine article, as well as in the SSAIE results brochure.

 

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