Internet of Services : A Discussion of Architectural Foundations

This paper explores the applicability of the original architectural principles of the Internet to the emerging quot;Internet of Servicesquot; (IoS). The design principles of the Internet have laid a solid, visionary architectural foundation. That foundation has produced secondary properties and benefits far exceeding the intrinsic value of the principles themselves. But many of the assumptions of the original Internet design no longer hold. In particular, the IoS will require a far more sophisticated service model than the one on which the Internet was founded. Among all the architectural principles of the Internet, the Principle of Design for Variation in Outcome is particularly critical for service architectures and should be adopted as the lead principle for setting the baseline - or infrastructure - for the IoS. The paper poses various architectural issues concerning the IoS. Addressing them should be a useful exercise in getting us a few steps closer to an IoS architectural foundation that may match the vision and ambition of the original Internet Architecture