Global technology trends: Perspectives from IBM Research Australia on resilient systems

Abstract

In an ever more interconnected world, system failures tend to not stay localised but spread through the interconnects. Making systems and processes more resilient becomes an increasingly important problem. During emergencies, this is even more critical as additional failures of information systems further hamper an already stressed situation. Information is crucial for the management of emergencies and the development of resilient next generation decision support platform becomes paramount. We approach the problem from a systems and a development perspective, the exploration of how such a concept translates into socio-technical decision support systems that are more resilient constitutes an important theoretical aspect that needs to be addressed. The research has the following goals: 1) to identify principles for resilient information systems; 2) to define a methodology that provides guidance for architectural work and assessment of architectural design from a resilience standpoint; 3) to evaluate the application of these principles in the case of emergency management. Copyright © 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.