A pan-European research team exploring new ways to secure networks has met at Waterford Institute of Technology (WIT).
The European Commission has funded a two-year research project, called Security Expert Initiative (SEINIT), with a European consortium of 13 partners, including the Telecommunications Systems and Software Group (TSSG) at WIT. The project aims to address the issues of security and privacy and the next-generation internet based on the internet protocol IPv6. The project, funded with €5m from the EU Sixth Framework research and development programme and Switzerland, is working to develop a robust security framework working across multiple devices and networks.
The work of the research group is focusing around the emerging area of ambient intelligence – a form of technological integration where everyday items such as light switches, ovens, video recorders, TVs, projectors, sound systems, PCs and so on can understand each other and communicate freely.
Mícheál ó Foghlú, research director at the TSSG, said, “Ambient intelligence incorporated into smart devices and software should radically improve the usability and usefulness of IT to people at work, play or rest. The promise of this freedom of communication where PCs, mobile phones, personal digital assistants and even standard household devices can all communicate seamlessly with each other also raises the question of how to make all this communication secure and private.”
Gerald Santucci, head of the trust and security unit within the Directorate General Information Society, which partly funds the project, added, “Thanks to the complementary skills of its partners and to their high commitment and dedication it will pave the way for key European researchers to develop the security technologies, architecture, models and policies needed to fully reap the benefits of ambient intelligence.”
By Brian Skelly
