SCAFFOLD - self configuring overlays using metadata hypercubes

Computer Networks have come a long way since the primitive Internet designed to enable a few computers at CERN to communicate with each other. Overlay Networks have emerged as one of the more imaginative ways to harness the underlying network for efficient content distribution and data sharing, faster searches and reliable communications, etc. Scaffold is a technique to build an overlay network for faster data discovery by studying the metadata present in the network, which is a-priori captured in a hypercube, called the Info-Cube. Scaffold triggers the network to build specific overlays in the form of Spanning Trees, making use of the Info-Cubes present in the nodes. Scaffold is designed to enable the network to form multiple overlays dynamically without centralized control. This makes the system self-configuring and enables the network to manage the overlay formation in a distributed fashion.