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The Next Internet

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  • Thursday, December 22, 2005
  • By David Talbot

TR: Which parts are farther back in the pipeline and when will they be ready?

LP: While there is a lot of research on wireless networks, much of that work is focused on isolated wireless sub-networks. The missing piece seems to be how we create a seamless global network that includes both wired and wireless components, thereby supporting mobility on a world-wide scale. Likewise, understanding how to exploit multiple independent sensor networks on a global basis -- to do things like tracking product distribution or creating traffic reports -- still needs attention. This "global perspective" is still a ways out, but the prospect of GENI is causing the wired and wireless communities to pay more attention to the broader architectural issues.

TR: Assuming that a good new architecture can be crafted and demonstrated, what’s a possible deployment scenario? Would the federal government be the first adopter?

LP: Government-funded use by large research projects -- "big science" -- is one scenario; but to realize widespread adoption will require that the research community demonstrate value to a much broader user base. Doing so potentially leads to "service-oriented" ISPs that do some of these value-added things. Perhaps these new ISPs exist side-by-side with today's Internet, or perhaps they become the "lens" through which ordinary users interact with the Internet. We tend to speculate about how deployment will actually play out, but our goal is simply to lower the barrier-to-entry for innovators to deploy, and for users to adopt new capabilities.

TR: As we understand it, today’s basic Internet protocol, called TCP/IP, began on a certain date. Would we need to do that here -- launch a new architecture on a specific date?

LP: I don't think this scenario is at all likely. The challenge for the research community is to find ways to support incremental adoption of whatever new ideas we develop. This requires a way for users to opt-in on a per-user, per-application basis. In the end, user demand will drive deployment.

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Guest (Joe someone)

  • 2245 Days Ago
  • 12/22/2005

The begining of the end.

Well, if every asset was identifiable then the government of say China could find out who the disenters are. Anything that you say against the governement on the internet then, you would be accountable for.

I agree that the internet has some security holes that we have to deal with as a society, but I cannot agree that everyone has to have an id &quotMARK&quot that their computer and indentity is associated with to implement the security fixes.

The articles reference to tying in wireless networks on a global scale makes me think of the &quotBEAST&quot.

You know it is close to the END when they are talking about one big network everyone is tied to!

Reply

Guest (Joe someone)

  • 2245 Days Ago
  • 12/22/2005

The begining of the end.

Well, if every asset was identifiable then the government of say China could find out who the disenters are. Anything that you say against the governement on the internet then, you would be accountable for.

I agree that the internet has some security holes that we have to deal with as a society, but I cannot agree that everyone has to have an id &quotMARK&quot that their computer and indentity is associated with to implement the security fixes.

The articles reference to tying in wireless networks on a global scale makes me think of the &quotBEAST&quot.

You know it is close to the END when they are talking about one big network everyone is tied to!

Reply

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