Using Markets to Engineer Resource Management for the Information Grid

Information systems are continually expanding as evidenced by the doubling of Internet connections every year. Similar growth is exhibited by information systems in defense. The Air Force's goals to achieve global awareness, dynamic planning/execution, and global information exchange involve the technologies to provide information to the warrior anywhere, anytime, and for any mission. This far-reaching enterprise will necessarily span multiple networks and computing domains of both the commercial and military varieties. As a result, many users with different goals and priorities vie for the communication and computing resources of the information grid. Managing this vast system to assure dependable operation that maintains users' quality of service levels has led researchers to propose economic models to solve the resource management problem. Information technology has begun to fundamentally alter the way business is conducted, and there is synergy between e-commerce and the management of the underlying information resources on which it runs. This paper examines the envisioned market-based, large-scale information systems for defense. Due to their criticality, these systems must also manage resources to provide survivability in the presence of information attacks. This potential for technology transfer from the defense sector to the commercial sector are described. Conversely, the leveraging of research performed in the non-military realm of e-commerce to reach the Air Force's goals will also be explored.