Economic Models and Algorithms for Distributed Systems

Distributed computing models for sharing resources such as Grids, Peer-to-Peer systems, or voluntary computing are becoming increasingly popular. While there are some success stories such as PlanetLab, OneLab, BitTorrent, and SETI@home, a widespread use of these technologies for business applications has not yet been achieved. In a business environment, mechanisms are needed to provide incentives to potential users for participating sharing in such networks. These mechanisms may range from simple non-monetary access rights to policies for sharing, to monetary payments. Although a few models for a framework of the notion of a "Grid economy" have been discussed, none of these models has made it into practice yet. This book attempts to fill this gap by discussing the reasons and exploring new incentive mechanisms for distributed systems in collaborative environments. It is the purpose of this book to discover new avenues of research and amendments to existing technologies, aiming at the successful deployment of commercial distributed systems.