Summary: What Harry has got

Looking back at Section  we saw that Harry had a lot of basic needs: to make money quickly, to have managed services, flexible hosting, and so on. After looking at the core features of a node we listed in Section  how those needs were met. Several were there, some partially, and a few were not met at all.

But now we know what kind of services are built on top of a node we can see that all those original needs are finally met...

The services' standard interfaces mean Harry has great flexibility in whose services he uses; it also eases bank integration and opens opportunities for more managed services.

The hosting service certainly meets the managed flexible hosting requirement, and it allows applications to scale efficiently as demand changes across locations, enabling netlets to position themselves nearest their users. It is also one kind of resource which can be bought readily, giving a choice of vendors.

Wallets allow Harry to make money quickly, because services are bought as and when they are needed. There is minimal advanced layout and if he is providing services to others (integrating his game into others' portals, perhaps) then Harry can charge on per-use or any other basis. Similarly his ASPs can afford to be reasonably priced and his costs are realistic. Easy bank integration is also a reality now. Banks can create their own wallet services and handle all the internal transactions in their own way. Harry can use their wallet netlets because wallets have a standard interface with his netlets.

The file system service is another managed service which scales with need. More storage usage can be bought in as necessary and paid for efficiently because usage is audited. It is also implemented as a reliable service.

The group communications service is a great benefit to applications which have to scale and run over a wide area. But it comes into its own as the basis of brokering services. This enables managed services, with a choice of vendors and ASPs. Third party brokers also help to give Harry the best deals.

The group execution service for adaptive hosting enables smooth growth and evolution, and allows scaling issues to be dealt with more easily. It is designed to allow applications to be very adaptive in use of their location and resource usage.

Finally the Web server service is one which allows his Web sites to scale as demand increases. This is just a basic service which makes it easier for anyone to create a site which they know can scale and adapt to growing demand efficiently and cost-effectively.