| Project | COLLABORATE |
| Project Number | RPF/POST-DOC/0916/0090 |
| Investigator(s) | Dr. Nicolas Nicolaou (Principal-Investigator & Project-Coordinator) Dr. Efstathios Stavrakis (Co-Investigator) |
| Funding | Restart 2020 Research Promotion Foundation May 2019 - Oct 2021 |
| URL | https://projects.algolysis.com/collaborate/ |
| Type | Research Grant |
| Status | In progress |
| Summary | Distributed Storage Systems (DSS) encompass the technology powering modern cloud data storage services such as DropBox and Google Drive that are used by millions of users as networked platforms for collaborative applications and data storage. Algorithms for DSS ensure data availability and survivability by replicating data in geographically dispersed network locations. However, a major problem with data distribution is consistency, especially when the storage is accessed concurrently by multiple processes; a key to enabling collaboration. Numerous strategies have been devised to mitigate these issues, however a robust and efficient solution remains elusive.
Collaborate (https://projects.algolysis.com/collaborate/), proposes a novel atomic Distributed Storage System built on top of asynchronous message-passing, failure-prone, commodity devices, and providing tight consistency guarantees when the storage is accessed concurrnelty by different processes. Atomicity enables the most natural consistency guarantee as it provides the illusion of a centralised sequentially accessed storage. To enhance the practicality of our atomic DSS, Collaborate will develop and combine the following services: (i) Fragmentation, (ii) Reconfiguration, and (iii) Failure Prediction. |