[kictanet] Time to rebuild the internet]

[alice]

Others explore scrapping Internet By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet

Writer
Fri Apr 13, 11:04 PM ET


NEW YORK - Although it has already taken nearly four decades to get
this far in building the Internet, some university researchers with
the federal government's blessing want to scrap all that and start
over.

The idea may seem unthinkable, even absurd, but many believe a "clean
slate" approach is the only way to truly address security, mobility
and other challenges that have cropped up since UCLA professor
Leonard Kleinrock helped supervise the first exchange of meaningless
test data between two machines on Sept. 2, 1969.

The Internet "works well in many situations but was designed for
completely different assumptions," said Dipankar Raychaudhuri, a
Rutgers University professor overseeing three clean-slate
projects. "It's sort of a miracle that it continues to work well
today."

No longer constrained by slow connections and computer processors and
high costs for storage, researchers say the time has come to rethink
the Internet's underlying architecture, a move that could mean
replacing networking equipment and rewriting software on computers to
better channel future traffic over the existing pipes.

Even Vinton Cerf, one of the Internet's founding fathers as co-
developer of the key communications techniques, said the exercise
was "generally healthy" because the current technology "does not
satisfy all needs."

One challenge in any reconstruction, though, will be balancing the
interests of various constituencies. The first time around,
researchers were able to toil away in their labs quietly. Industry is
playing a bigger role this time, and law enforcement is bound to make
its needs for wiretapping known.

There's no evidence they are meddling yet, but once any research
looks promising, "a number of people (will) want to be in the drawing
room," said Jonathan Zittrain, a law professor affiliated with Oxford
and Harvard universities. "They'll be wearing coats and ties and
spilling out of the venue."

The National Science Foundation wants to build an experimental
research network known as the Global Environment for Network
Innovations, or GENI, and is funding several projects at universities
and elsewhere through Future Internet Network Design, or FIND.

Rutgers, Stanford, Princeton, Carnegie Mellon and the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology are among the universities pursuing
individual projects. Other government agencies, including the Defense
Department, have also been exploring the concept.

The European Union has also backed research on such
initiatives, through a program known as Future Internet Research and
Experimentation, or FIRE. Government officials and researchers met
last month in Zurich to discuss early findings and goals.

A new network could run parallel with the current Internet and
eventually replace it, or perhaps aspects of the research could go
into a major overhaul of the existing architecture.

These clean-slate efforts are still in their early stages, though,
and aren't expected to bear fruit for another 10 or 15 years —
assuming Congress comes through with funding.

Guru Parulkar, who will become executive director of Stanford's
initiative after heading NSF's clean-slate programs, estimated that
GENI alone could cost $350 million, while government, university and
industry spending on the individual projects could collectively reach
$300 million. Spending so far has been in the tens of millions of
dollars.

And it could take billions of dollars to replace all the software and
hardware deep in the legacy systems.

Clean-slate advocates say the cozy world of researchers in the 1970s
and 1980s doesn't necessarily mesh with the realities and needs of
the commercial Internet.

"The network is now mission critical for too many people, when in the
(early days) it was just experimental," Zittrain said.

The Internet's early architects built the system on the principle of
trust. Researchers largely knew one another, so they kept the shared
network open and flexible — qualities that proved key to its rapid
growth.

But spammers and hackers arrived as the network expanded and could
roam freely because the Internet doesn't have built-in mechanisms for
knowing with certainty who sent what.

The network's designers also assumed that computers are in fixed
locations and always connected. That's no longer the case with the
proliferation of laptops, personal digital assistants and other
mobile devices, all hopping from one wireless access point to
another, losing their signals here and there.

Engineers tacked on improvements to support mobility and improved
security, but researchers say all that adds complexity, reduces
performance and, in the case of security, amounts at most to bandages
in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse.

Workarounds for mobile devices "can work quite well if a small
fraction of the traffic is of that type," but could overwhelm
computer processors and create security holes when 90 percent or more
of the traffic is mobile, said Nick McKeown, co-director of
Stanford's clean-slate program.

The Internet will continue to face new challenges as applications
require guaranteed transmissions — not the "best effort" approach
that works better for e-mail and other tasks with less time
sensitivity.

Think of a doctor using teleconferencing to perform a surgery
remotely, or a customer of an Internet-based phone service needing to
make an emergency call. In such cases, even small delays in relaying
data can be deadly.

And one day, sensors of all sorts will likely be Internet capable.

Rather than create workarounds each time, clean-slate researchers
want to redesign the system to easily accommodate any future
technologies, said Larry Peterson, chairman of computer science at
Princeton and head of the planning group for the NSF's GENI.

Even if the original designers had the benefit of hindsight, they
might not have been able to incorporate these features from the get-
go. Computers, for instance, were much slower then, possibly too weak
for the computations needed for robust authentication.

"We made decisions based on a very different technical landscape,"
said Bruce Davie, a fellow with network-equipment maker Cisco Systems
Inc., which stands to gain from selling new products and
incorporating research findings into its existing line.

"Now, we have the ability to do all sorts of things at very high
speeds," he said. "Why don't we start thinking about how we take
advantage of those things and not be constrained by the current
legacy we have?"

Of course, a key question is how to make any transition — and
researchers are largely punting for now.

"Let's try to define where we think we should end up, what we think
the Internet should look like in 15 years' time, and only then would
we decide the path," McKeown said. "We acknowledge it's going to be
really hard but I think it will be a mistake to be deterred by that."

Kleinrock, the Internet pioneer at UCLA, questioned the need for a
transition at all, but said such efforts are useful for their out-of-
the-box thinking.

"A thing called GENI will almost surely not become the Internet, but
pieces of it might fold into the Internet as it advances," he said.

Think evolution, not revolution.

Princeton already runs a smaller experimental network called
PlanetLab, while Carnegie Mellon has a clean-slate project called 100
x 100.

These days, Carnegie Mellon professor Hui Zhang said he no longer
feels like "the outcast of the community" as a champion of clean-
slate designs.

Construction on GENI could start by 2010 and take about five years to
complete. Once operational, it should have a decade-long lifespan.

FIND, meanwhile, funded about two dozen projects last year and is
evaluating a second round of grants for research that could
ultimately be tested on GENI.

These go beyond projects like Internet2 and National LambdaRail, both
of which focus on next-generation needs for speed.

Any redesign may incorporate mechanisms, known as virtualization, for
multiple networks to operate over the same pipes, making further
transitions much easier. Also possible are new structures for data
packets and a replacement of Cerf's TCP/IP communications protocols.

"Almost every assumption going into the current design of the
Internet is open to reconsideration and challenge," said Parulkar,
the NSF official heading to Stanford. "Researchers may come up with
wild ideas and very innovative ideas that may not have a lot to do
with the current Internet."

___

Associated Press Business Writer Aoife White in Brussels, Belgium,
contributed to this report.

___

On the Net:

Stanford program: http://cleanslate.stanford.edu 
<http://cleanslate.stanford.edu>

Carnegie Mellon program: http://100x100network.org 
<http://100x100network.org>

Rutgers program: http://orbit-lab.org <http://orbit-lab.org>

NSF's GENI: http://geni.net <http://geni.net>

__._,_.___
Messages in this topic 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/message/5866;_ylc=X3oDMTM0Z3V1b3BiBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBG1zZ0lkAzU4NjYEc2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDdnRwYwRzdGltZQMxMTc2NTYyMjg5BHRwY0lkAzU4NjY-> 
(1) Reply (via web post) 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJwNjNtMTd2BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBG1zZ0lkAzU4NjYEc2VjA2Z0cgRzbGsDcnBseQRzdGltZQMxMTc2NTYyMjg5?act=reply&messageNum=5866> 
| Start a new topic 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/post;_ylc=X3oDMTJlNTJpc3E1BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA250cGMEc3RpbWUDMTE3NjU2MjI4OQ--> 

Messages 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/messages;_ylc=X3oDMTJlNmNoZ2ZtBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA21zZ3MEc3RpbWUDMTE3NjU2MjI4OQ--> 
| Links 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/links;_ylc=X3oDMTJmb3U4c2FqBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2xpbmtzBHN0aW1lAzExNzY1NjIyODk-> 
| Polls 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/polls;_ylc=X3oDMTJmMWVxdjc2BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3BvbGxzBHN0aW1lAzExNzY1NjIyODk-> 
| Calendar 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/calendar;_ylc=X3oDMTJkdWcyc2txBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2NhbARzdGltZQMxMTc2NTYyMjg5> 

Dig Africa site welcomes you to join us at
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/Digafrica on IT in Africa

Aids-Africa is a forum for communication and information on AIDS related 
issues in Africa and all are welcome to join us at 
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/aids-africa

Join us on hiv/aids forum on Kenya at 
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/kenya-aids

Join us at a Kenyan networking forum and NGOS at 
http://www.yahoogroups.com/group/kenyainternational
Yahoo! Groups 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/;_ylc=X3oDMTJkMnN0ajNyBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2dmcARzdGltZQMxMTc2NTYyMjg5> 

Change settings via the Web 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica/join;_ylc=X3oDMTJmNjljNHZqBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA3N0bmdzBHN0aW1lAzExNzY1NjIyODk-> 
(Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest 
<mailto:DigAfrica-digest at yahoogroups.com?subject=Email%20Delivery:%20Digest> 
| Switch format to Traditional 
<mailto:DigAfrica-traditional at yahoogroups.com?subject=Change%20Delivery%20Format:%20Traditional> 

Visit Your Group 
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DigAfrica;_ylc=X3oDMTJkamNsa2piBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzI5MDI0NDQEZ3Jwc3BJZAMxNzA1MTE2MjkxBHNlYwNmdHIEc2xrA2hwZgRzdGltZQMxMTc2NTYyMjg5> 
| Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> | 
Unsubscribe <mailto:DigAfrica-unsubscribe at yahoogroups.com?subject=>
Rec

    * nd communication technology
      <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads;_ylc=X3oDMTJjYm1vOWk4BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BF9wAzMEZ3JwSWQDMjkwMjQ0NARncnBzcElkAzE3MDUxMTYyOTEEc2VjA3NsbW9kBHN0aW1lAzExNzY1NjIyOTA-?t=ms&k=Information+and+communication+technology&w1=Africa+safaris&w2=Africa+east+safari&w3=Information+and+communication+technology&w4=Africa+wildlife+safari&w5=Africa+calling+card&c=5&s=143&g=2&.sig=6QYp2hD7zUAtzJnsCtvUaA>
    * Africa wildlife safari
      <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads;_ylc=X3oDMTJjOTZqaTZxBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BF9wAzQEZ3JwSWQDMjkwMjQ0NARncnBzcElkAzE3MDUxMTYyOTEEc2VjA3NsbW9kBHN0aW1lAzExNzY1NjIyOTA-?t=ms&k=Africa+wildlife+safari&w1=Africa+safaris&w2=Africa+east+safari&w3=Information+and+communication+technology&w4=Africa+wildlife+safari&w5=Africa+calling+card&c=5&s=143&g=2&.sig=C2HodMxrYdimQiFU2I8AdA>
    * Africa calling card
      <http://groups.yahoo.com/gads;_ylc=X3oDMTJjOTc1OTZ0BF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BF9wAzUEZ3JwSWQDMjkwMjQ0NARncnBzcElkAzE3MDUxMTYyOTEEc2VjA3NsbW9kBHN0aW1lAzExNzY1NjIyOTA-?t=ms&k=Africa+calling+card&w1=Africa+safaris&w2=Africa+east+safari&w3=Information+and+communication+technology&w4=Africa+wildlife+safari&w5=Africa+calling+card&c=5&s=143&g=2&.sig=cEqrI68cHr1PNjV-1aMhCA>

Career Change

Yahoo! HotJobs 
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12ihm8r5o/M=493064.9803220.10510213.8674578/D=groups/S=1705116291:NC/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1176569489/A=3848554/R=0/SIG=10o5tjndh/*http://www.hotjobs.com>

Search Jobs

Find the right one

Yahoo! Mail

Next gen email? 
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12ivni3iv/M=493064.9803214.10510208.8674578/D=groups/S=1705116291:NC/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1176569489/A=3848568/R=0/SIG=12jllrvsk/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=42409/*http://advision.webevents.yahoo.com/handraisers>

Try the all-new

Yahoo! Mail Beta.

Y! GeoCities

Be Vocal 
<http://us.ard.yahoo.com/SIG=12is1abtd/M=493064.9803219.10510212.8674578/D=groups/S=1705116291:NC/Y=YAHOO/EXP=1176569489/A=3848538/R=0/SIG=12ban20bv/*http://us.rd.yahoo.com/evt=42416/*http://geocities.yahoo.com/ps/y360/?v=f>

Publish your opi-

nions with a blog.

.
Web Bug from 
http://geo.yahoo.com/serv?s=97359714/grpId=2902444/grpspId=1705116291/msgId=5866/stime=1176562289/nc1=3848554/nc2=3848568/nc3=3848538 

__,_._,___