Abstract: A method of providing fault protection of special purpose devices included in at least one communication network and performing respective functions, includes the steps of providing a set of general purpose devices adapted to be configured to perform the respective functions and in the presence of a faulty condition in any of the respective functions of the special purpose devices, applying at least one of the general purpose devices in performing the respective function exposed to the faulty condition. Preferably the general purpose devices are configured for resource sharing; resources needed to perform a respective function exposed to a faulty condition can thus be transferred to a general purpose device in the set from another general purpose device in the same set. The set of general purpose devices is preferably arranged as a distributed system.

Abstract: A method and a system for digital content sharing between individual users in a peer-to-peer fashion, wherein each user is connected to a respective local access network through a transport network. The method and system provide local network storage areas associated with each user arranged for archiving digital contents, and carry out the transferring of contents via the transport network from a storage area associated with a user holding requested contents to a remote network storage area associated with a requesting user on a different access network according to the connectivity available on the transport network. The shared contents are made available for access by the requesting user on its local network storage area. A telecommunications network architecture includes the system so that there is a plurality of services of content sharing between pairs of individual users implementing the above method.

Abstract: A method of providing fault protection of special purpose devices included in at least one communication network and performing respective functions, includes the steps of providing a set of general purpose devices adapted to be configured to perform the respective functions and in the presence of a faulty condition in any of the respective functions of the special purpose devices, applying at least one of the general purpose devices in performing the respective function exposed to the faulty condition. Preferably the general purpose devices are configured for resource sharing; resources needed to perform a respective function exposed to a faulty condition can thus be transferred to a general purpose device in the set from another general purpose device in the same set. The set of general purpose devices is preferably arranged as a distributed system.