Virtual markets in wireless grids: peering policy obstacles

Introduction The " peer-to-peer " architecture – the sharing of computational resources by direct exchange between computers – has been in existence in various forms for at least thirty years. Building on the concept of peer-to-peer computing, grid computing has recently emerged as a field of research and standardization in high performance computing. Grid computing offers a solution to the challenge of 'flexible, secure, and coordinated resource sharing among dynamic collections of individuals, institutions and resources' 1. The ultimate vision of the grid is that of an adaptive network offering secure, inexpensive, and coordinated real-time access to dynamic, heterogeneous resources, potentially traversing geographic, political and cultural boundaries but still able to maintain the desirable characteristics of a simple distributed system, such as stability, transparency, scalability and flexibility. This paper explores the regulatory and policy implications of a 'wireless computation grid' designed for a virtual market space for the commercial trading of computational and information resources. We expect the remote trading of goods and services, enabled by evolving wireless technologies, will become a strategic issue for many private businesses in the future. In this future scenario for a wireless grid, many information policy questions are raised. First, and perhaps most importantly, how can policy be agreed to across such a network of networks, or in this case a network of grids? This is a variant on the question which is already bedevilling ICANN, as it struggles to keep its focus on a much narrower set of issues. The design of a regulatory regime for wired and wireless networks, for content and conduit, linked through computational grids will be a substantial challenge. Wireless resources are relatively scarce, costly, and valuable compared to cheap computational cycles. Hence, the motivation for this paper and our related research efforts is the hypothesis that research on wireless grids can sharpen the focus and provide insights into critical wireless policy questions for virtual information markets in which organizations meet and exchange goods and services. This paper explores the technical features of grid computing, considers how they may translate to a wireless realm of heterogeneous systems and services, and begins to consider a few of the many research and policy challenges likely to emerge if wireless grids move from theoretical possibility to practical reality.