Decentralized Communications: Trustworthy interoperability in peer-to-peer networks

This paper introduces a new communication paradigm called Decentralized Communications, which enables cross-domain communication services to trustfully use peer-to-peer networks. Decentralized Communication services are inherently inter-operable without the need to standardize protocols or service APIs. This property is achieved by using the Protocol-on-the-fly concept and the Reporter-Observer communication pattern. Users can select Identity Providers to mutually authenticate themselves and secure communications, independently of the Communication Service Provider. Decentralized Communications can be applied to any kind of communication, including human-to-human, human-to-things, and things-to-things communication. The reTHINK project has developed an Open Source reference implementation of a Decentralized Communications framework, which was successfully used in various challenging scenarios. The results of this project demonstrate the feasibility to enhance interoperability and users' privacy, and the freedom to select whom to trust, without slowing down ICT innovation pace. It is expected that Decentralized Communications will impact the design of more agile Service Delivery frameworks for Internet of Things and 5G networks.