PressDailyCal20060117

From RAD Lab

"Internet Center Will Unite Industry, School" BY Alex Zaman Contribution Writer Tuesday, January 17, 2006 The Daily Californian

UC Berkeley researchers are teaming up with technology giants Google, Sun Microsystems and Microsoft to broaden the range of Internet service technology.

Starting this semester, UC Berkeley professors and graduate students will develop methods of software engineering that streamline the creation and maintenance of Internet service providers at the Reliable, Adaptive, and Distributed Systems Laboratory located in Soda Hall.

"Right now, it takes hundreds of researchers, technicians and engineers to create and run an Internet service," said lab co-founder David Patterson, UC Berkeley professor of computer science. "Our goal is to eventually allow one million people to create their own Internet service."

Google, Sun Microsystems, and Microsoft will each donate $500,000 each year over the course of five years, accounting for approximately 70-80 percent of total funding.

The three companies will also provide advice and feedback for the research being done.

"We're excited to support the Reliable, Adaptive and Distributed Systems Laboratory and look forward to the exciting ideas and technology that will be developed there," said Google spokesperson Barry Schnitt.

The idea for the lab was drafted last year by Patterson and five other faculty members from UC Berkeley and Stanford's electrical engineering and computer science departments.

Changes in federal funding policy for research enabled the professors to approach companies for funding while also receiving grants from the National Science Foundation and the UC Discovery and Microelectronics Innovation and Computer Research Opportunities program, Patterson said.

Lab researchers intend to publish their research throughout the course of the lab's five-year existence, with the hope that their ideas and software can be commercialized and widely distributed, Patterson said.

Researchers said their work could have a profound impact on the economy by increasing jobs and allowing companies to easily tailor technology to their specific needs.

"To expand technology would open up new opportunities for entrepreneurs and small organizations to innovate," Patterson said. "I definitely think it will work. Ten years ago, elaborate search engines didn't exist to the extent they do now. We've come a long way with Internet technology."

The lab will also provide UC Berkeley students with numerous opportunities to be exposed to research, he said.

"We hope to have these students simulate and try to create an actual Internet service," Patterson said. "We are getting the support of graduate students, and also offering undergraduates the opportunity to participate as the research ideas develop."