P2P architecture for ubiquitous supply chain systems

Abstract

Ubiquitous information technologies like RFID allow for immediate, extensive and fine-grained

capture of real world information. Scalable and efficient networks for exchange of this vast amount of

information amongst companies are crucial for the economic exploitation of benefits of ubiquitous

information technologies. Existing networks bear several limitations like risks of single-point-offailures or bottlenecks, unequally distributed power and burdens as well as inflexibility through

stringent structures and formats. In particular there is a need for improving the scalability of solutions

and ensuring autonomy of network participants. In this paper we introduce a Peer-to-Peer-based

architecture for exchanging distributed information, which are shared among participants of a supply

chain facilitated with ubiquitous information technologies. This architecture builds on the wellestablished EPCglobal standards, but can be implemented as an autonomous network. Unlike other

architectures it does not need central coordination mechanisms, because it is based on self-organizing

Peer-to-Peer protocols. We argue that our architecture supports business processes especially of

small and medium-sized enterprises better than other architectures. We provide a discussion about

requirements for solutions and a simulation-based analysis of the proposed architecture.

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