TierStore

In order to support intermittent connected storage CITRIS researchers in TIER have developed a distributed storage and application framework called TierStore. The goal of this project is to develop a storage management system to use in deploying distributed information-driven applications over intermittent networks. The system has been validated by porting a variety of applications on the framework, including wiki (collaborative content), email, and file sharing. TierStore software has been tested in the field at several Internet cafes in rural Cambodia, and researchers are working with the National TeleHealth Unit at the University of the Philippines to deploy the TierStore system to synchronize various kinds of health information among grassroots health centers in urban and rural Philippines. The same technology is being used in a separate project led by Kevin Fall at Intel for communication among ships at sea, as well as buoys and ports, and includes undersea audio links as well as traditional wireless links.  Finally, DARPA has created a small program around intermittent networking, including the DTN (delay-tolerant network) with total funding of about $10M.