The Internet’s success is in part based on the widespread adoption of protocols or sets of rules used to transmit data, whether it be over networks or between an operating system and an application. Some of the key protocols deal with transmissions over networks, the most famous of all being the TCP/IP protocol suites which govern the transmission of data between physical networks.
These protocols are used by network technologies – like routers – to manage the flow of traffic and ensure the delivery of traffic. When you consider the fact that there are literally hundreds of millions of computers, 1.5 billion users, and tens of thousands of networks connected together using Internet protocols, the efficient delivery of everything from video downloads to email each day is an amazing feat.
As amazing as it is, many Internet engineers and experts are concerned that the Internet needs to evolve to meet new traffic demands and more complicated and intensive data flows. Some of these experts point to the fact that networks are a key part of the Internet and contrary to the distorted interpretation some apply to the “end to end” concept, network management and the evolution of network functionalities and protocols is a significant and important aspect of adapting to the ever changing demands of the global Internet.
One such expert is Mark Handley, a Professor of Networked Systems at the University College of London, the first university outside the U. S. hooked up to the then fledgling ARPANET network in the 1970’s. Professor Handley wrote an interesting paper about the evolution of the Internet entitled “Why The Internet Only Just Works” in 2006. In that paper, he offered the following observation:
“The Internet was never designed to be optimal for any particular problem — its great strength is that it is a general-purpose network that can support a wide range
of applications and a wide range of link technologies. The Internet is also a cost-effective network — it does not make great promises about the quality of service
that it provides. It is good enough for a wide range of applications, but anyone considering telesurgery or remote-control of a nuclear power station might well be advised to look somewhere else. It basically provides 80% of the capability for 20% of the cost. If we wanted 100% of the functionality, so that telesurgery routinely could be performed over the Internet with very low risk, then it is highly likely that the network would be too expensive for the vast majority of users who wish to exchange e-mail, chat, or surf the Web.”
The professor notes in making this observation that he is in no way predicting the failure of the Internet or adopting a gloom and doom attitude. Rather, he is pointing to the fact that historically it has been difficult to implement changes to the Internet to deal with emerging problems like increased congestion. He also notes that increasingly we face challenges that are much larger than they ever have been before, particularly with regard to security. As he points out:
“Security is probably the biggest imminent problem facing the Internet. At best, viruses, worms, phishing, and spyware between them risk reducing people’s confidence in the network and therefore its usefulness. At worst, crime runs rampant, companies are bankrupted, and security lapses in critical systems cause widespread disruption, civil unrest, and perhaps deaths. Security is again a problem for which there is no magic bullet. There is an arms race under way, as techniques used by attackers and defenders co-evolve.”
In Stockholm just a few weeks back, Professor Handley spoke again about the challenges facing the Internet and the protocols that it runs on during a meeting of the Internet Engineering Task Force, a voluntary group of Internet experts, academics and engineers who help develop the protocols and architectures that are adopted for the Internet. Professor added some additional points to his paper of 2006 and his slides suggest that the hard work of coming up with new protocols or improvements is making it harder for ISPs to manage networks, particularly with regard to security and congestion.
Listening to his talk and reviewing his slides, it appears he is concerned that if more work is not done to provide better network management tools “Either we end up with a network where innovation can only be within narrow bounds, constrained by yesterday’s common applications, or the regulators eventually step in and prohibit broad classes of traffic prioritization.”
In the end, what I believe Professor Handley is saying is that the hard work of coming up with new tools to make the Internet work better involves players at all levels of the Internet – content providers, applications developers, software designers, network equipment designers and manufacturers, and network providers – working together to adopt innovations wherever needed. He clearly is worried about regulation or bad policy leading to stagnation and inappropriate use of technologies, thus undermining the continued innovation needed in the way the Internet is operated. This has been my worry too as new policy ideas are floated that include extremely constraining provisions on network management. Given the many challenges facing the Internet’s evolution – particular in the realm of security – we can’t afford to adopt policies that hinder innovation and needed evolution in how we approach the delivery of traffic to consumers.