An Introduction to Dew Computing: Definition, Concept and Implications

Since the end of the 1990s, the world has witnessed a tremendous growth in the area of information and communication technology (ICT), starting with grid computing, cloud computing (CC), and fog computing to recently introduced edge computing. Although, these technologies are still in very good shape, they do heavily rely on connectivity, i.e., Internet. To address this challenge, this paper proposes a novel dew-cloud architecture that brings the power of CC together with the dew computing (DC). Originally, the dew-cloud architecture is an extension of the existing client-server architecture, where two servers are placed at both ends of the communication link. With the help of a dew server, a user has more control and flexibility to access his/her personal data in the absence of an Internet connection. Primarily, the data are stored at the dew server as a local copy upon which instantiation of the Internet is synchronized with the master copy at the cloud side. Users can browse, read, write, or append data on the local dew site, which is a local Web form of an actual website. With the incorporation of the dew domain naming system and dew domain name redirection, mapping between different local dew sites has become possible. Novel services, such as infrastructure-as-a-dew, software-as-a-dew service, and software-as-a-dew product, are, hereby, introduced along with the DC. This paper presents the following as key contributions: 1) a precise and concrete definition of DC; 2) detailed and comprehensive discussions of its concept and working principle; 3) application potentials; and 4) technical challenges. The motto of this paper is to conceptualize the fact of empowerment of the ICT-user base with almost an Internet-free surfing experience in coming days.