Business Administration and Economics
Applied Computer Science
The IT world of tomorrow holds a variety of challenges for digital companies. Software systems need to be developed and adapted faster than ever. Increasingly, they contain elements of traditional information systems and elements of embedded, semiautonomous systems, for which corresponding development processes are required. The Chair of Software Engineering, especially Mobile Applications of Prof. Volker Gruhn researches how such software processes should be designed in the age of the digitised organisation. One important outcome of the research is the Interaction Room. It is used to methodically identify the drivers of value and risk in a given project so that decisions can be made on its course. Various aspects of a project are analysed from different perspectives in the physical space of the Interaction Room to identify key points and critical success factors. Another focus is on description (including gesture control) and testing of mobile software systems. Research is both basic and applied in nature and subject to continuous practical testing. An example of ongoing basic research is the DFG AUTEM project on early identification of semantic errors in business process modelling. Applied work takes place in the BMWi Symphony project, in which technical conditions and incentive systems are being developed to make telecommunications services more user-friendly, flexible and transparent for providers and customers alike. Here a marketplace and platform is being developed to allow telecoms companies to offer their services in such a way as to give business clients choice and flexibility in combining and managing individual services from different providers. Practical trials, in particular of the Interaction Room, are being conducted in bilateral projects with partners such as Barmenia, RWE, eon, adesso, Sonepar, and Allianz. The Chair is also supporting numerous companies under its CampusLab brand with professional development in relevant IT topics for their employees.
The social and economic importance of the internet continues to grow, driven especially by the spread of mobile end devices such as smartphones and tablets. The greater variety of services, increased complexity, and the growing demands of users, network and service providers are creating new challenges, which can only be met with new mechanisms for managing internet traffic. To explore these complex systems and assess their economic efficiency in relation to the operator and the end user’s quality of experience (QoE), suitable models are being developed at Prof. Tobias Hoßfeld’s Chair of Modelling of Adaptive Systems. The aim is to improve the systems for everyone involved and solve problems that actually occur in practice.
The DFG “ÖkoNet” project is examining the efficient distribution of adaptively streamed video content in future content-centred networks. A case study on mobile cloud computing is also being conducted and evaluated with regard to the energy consumption of the end devices, the signalling load in the mobile network, QoE, and cost. An increasingly important aspect in this context is energy-efficient operation of data centres. Energy savings generally lead to a shortage of available IT resources, which results in reduced service quality and poor QoE. Joint optimisation of both objectives is explored in the DFG project “QoE-DZ”.