Real time dependable communication infrastructure for a collaborative groupware system

This paper addresses the problem of providing customized real-time dependable communication services for distributed and delay-sensitive applications. The proposed architecture is that of a real-time groupware system which enables meeting of dependability requirements through replication. The communication infrastructure is implemented with real time dependable channels. A dependable communication protocol provides both stable throughput and fast delivery of multicast messages even in the presence of frequent node and link failures. The advantages of the proposed solution are sustained by test results of a parallel processing image application.