Lancaster University actively uses Microsoft Windows
source code to support experimental aspects of its research. In
early 2002 they achieved notable success by having LandMARC project
source code adopted by two of Microsoft’s product groups: the
Windows Server IPv6 group and the Windows CE .NET Core-OS
group.
Situation
The Department of Computer Science at Lancaster University is one
of the leading centers for networking and distributed multimedia
research in the United Kingdom. As with most others in the academic
field, Lancaster researchers traditionally employed one of the Unix
operating systems—typically NetBSD, FreeBSD, or Linux. However, some
of the Ph.D. students at Lancaster started to experiment with the
Microsoft® Windows® source code as an alternative to the more
established research platforms.
By early 1999, a Windows source-code thesis project had been
submitted, and senior academics at Lancaster were convinced that the
Windows source code offered their team an alternative research
platform for experimental work. Lancaster decided to use Windows as
the basis for their efforts, and approached the University Relations
Team at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, England for support.
Started in October of 1999, the outcome of this venture was the
Lancaster and Microsoft Active Research Collaboration (LandMARC)
project (http://www.landmarc.net/). The
most celebrated aspect of the LandMARC project was an implementation
of Mobile IPv6 in the Windows operating system.
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We embarked upon this project
because we thought that the people at Lancaster were
good, and the results have fully justified this. In this
case the outcome has surpassed anything that we might
reasonably have expected, and we are very pleased that
it has produced something genuinely useful. |
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Professor
Roger Needham CBE FRS, Managing Director,
Microsoft Research Cambridge |
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| Solution
One of the objectives of the LandMARC project was to provide an
implementation of Mobile IPv6 on the Windows operating system for
research purposes. Mobile IPv6 allows a mobile device to retain the
use of an IPv6 address after moving from the “home” network for
which that address is valid, so that applications wanting to contact
the device at that address may do so directly, and so that network
connections bound to the address survive movement of the mobile
device.
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) had been working on
defining a next generation Internet Protocol, known as Internet
Protocol Version 6 (IPv6). The starting point for the LandMARC
development of Mobile IPv6 effort was the MSR 1.4 protocol stack for
IPv6, developed and released in source form for research purposes on
Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0. The MSR 1.4 stack did not support
Mobile IPv6 machines, and the work of extending the code to do so
was initially undertaken by Lancaster University. The result was a
working implementation of Mobile IPv6 for Windows 2000, which was
released for research purposes from the Microsoft Research Web site
in January 2001.
During one of the Lancaster team’s several visits to Microsoft
Corporate headquarters in Redmond, Washington, the Windows CE
product group expressed interest in the Mobile IPv6 project. It was
decided that the LandMARC project would be extended to include the
Windows CE operating system. What followed was a stellar example of
distributed teamwork among Lancaster, Cambridge, and Redmond. In
early January 2002, the exercise was declared complete, and
ownership of the active source code moved from Lancaster to
Microsoft, in time for the next phase of Windows CE development. The
Mobile IPv6 source code is now held in the source repositories for
Microsoft Windows Server™ and Windows CE .NET.
Benefits
From an academic perspective, the joint endeavor can be declared
a success on the strengths of the number of papers published and the
number of Ph.D. candidates who have used or now are using Windows
source to obtain their degrees.
Microsoft invests heavily in research, maintaining five
substantial research labs of its own in Redmond, Beijing, Silicon
Valley, Bay Area, and Cambridge. The work is both theoretical and
applied, and Microsoft, determined to support innovation, employs a
dedicated, experienced staff to help put research teams and product
groups in contact with each other and to facilitate the technology
transfer of research ideas between groups. Phil Fawcett, an
experienced Microsoft veteran of multiple product releases, is
particularly responsible for the Windows Division, Digital Media
Division, and the Cambridge Research Lab. Speaking to Microsoft
researchers in Cambridge, he explained how people within the
Microsoft development groups tend to view research: “They might ask
you how many papers you’ve had published and they may or may not
care. They might even ask you how many patents you’ve obtained; and
they might care, but usually not much. What they really care about
is this: the impact your technology and research will have or has
had on any of the product lines and Microsoft customers.”
The Microsoft Research Source Licensing Program (MSRLP)
authorizes faculty, staff, and students in the licensed institution
to use, reproduce, and modify source code and related confidential
information provided by Microsoft for educational purposes or
sponsored government and commercial research. The LandMARC project
clearly demonstrates the potential for rewarding technology transfer
from academic research into business applications.
The success of the work at Lancaster University proves that
talented university researchers can successfully utilize Windows
source code—either defined by conventional academic criteria or as
measured by the criteria that Microsoft applies to its own
professional research groups. It also demonstrates that university
researchers can establish a close rapport with research and
development groups inside Microsoft, and that both sides can work
conjointly in developing top-quality operating system code.
For More Information
For more information on the Mobile IPv6 Systems Research Lab
(MSRL) project, visit:
http://www.mobileipv6.net/
For more information on the Microsoft Research University
Programs, visit: http://www.research.microsoft.com/
For more information on the Interactive Distributed Multimedia
Systems 2001 conference, visit:
http://www.idms2001.org/
For more information on the Internet Protocol Version 6
(IPv6), visit:
http://www.microsoft.com/windows.netserver/technologies/ipv6/default.asp
For more information about Microsoft products or services, call
the Microsoft Sales Information Center at (800) 426-9400. In Canada,
call the Microsoft Canada Information Centre at (800) 563-9048.
Outside the 50 United States and Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access information online, visit www.microsoft.com/
© 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
This case study is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT
MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.
Microsoft, Windows, Windows NT, and Windows Server are either
registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States and/or other countries. The names of actual companies
and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their
respective owners.
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Solution Overview
Customer Size: 2500
employees
Organization
Profile
The Department of Computer Science at Lancaster University is a
leading British computer science department with research interests
that include distributed multimedia systems, mobile computing,
software systems engineering, interactive systems and natural
language processing.
Business
Situation
As with most others in the academic field, Lancaster researchers
traditionally employed one of the Unix operating systems—typically
NetBSD, FreeBSD, or Linux. However, some of the Ph.D. students at
Lancaster started to experiment with the Windows source code as an
alternative to the more established research platforms. Lancaster
University was one of the first universities in Europe to receive a
source license for the Microsoft® Windows® CE operating
system.
Solution
The success of the LandMARC project at Lancaster University
through the Microsoft Research Source Licensing Program (MSRLP)
proves that talented university researchers can successfully utilize
Windows source code and establish a close rapport with research and
development groups inside Microsoft, and that both sides can work
conjointly in developing top-quality operating system
code.
Software and
Services Microsoft Windows CE .NET Microsoft Windows
Server 2003 Standard Edition
Vertical
Industries Education
Country/Region United
Kingdom
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