[CAnet - news] Divergent views on the future of the Internet

For more information on this item please visit the CANARIE CA*net 4 Optical
Internet program web site at http://www.canarie.ca/canet4/library/list.html
-------------------------------------------

[Some excerpts from NW article.  Thanks to Harvey Newman for this pointer --
BSA]

http://www.networkworld.com/edge/columnists/view.html

Today's focus:  Groups try to chart future of IP nets

As IP networks take on more business-critical roles, the evolution of these
infrastructures becomes cause for great concern, especially with the advent
of peer-to-peer applications, Web-based services, and IP-based voice and
video.


Several topical sessions will address such concerns this week at the Next
Generation Networks conference in Washington, D.C. Pressing issues to be
discussed include the future architectural and governmental directions of
the Internet, the impact of peer-to-peer applications on business IP
networks, and retooling these infrastructures into service-oriented
architectures (SOA) supporting Web-based services and XML message-based
routing.

Underpinning the discussions about the future direction of the 'Net are two
divergent viewpoints: one from the IETF, the other from the International
Telecommunications Union (ITU).

"Probably the biggest issue that'll be coming up is, which NGN?" asks Dave
Passmore, research director at Burton Group and NGN 2005 conference
chairman. "The ITU uses the term Next Generation Networks as the follow-on
to the [public switched telephone network], the IP-based phone network
that's built on [IP Multimedia Subsystem]. The IETF will tell you that the
NGN and IMS are going to collapse under their own weight, that it won't
scale, that it violates the layering principle of protocols, that it's
doomed to fail."

The two models are radically divergent, says Scott Bradner, consultant with
Harvard University's University Information Systems and a Network World
columnist , who is chairing the panel.

"The current Internet model is the stupid network model, where the network
doesn't know what applications you're running and doesn't try to be
helpful," he says. "The ITU's model [is] where the network is
application-aware and can provide specific extra support for a particular
application, such as VoIP. That session will compare what their strengths
and weaknesses are, and hopefully out of it we can get some idea of what the
future is going to look like."

Bradner says the ITU's model is designed to provide defined and guaranteed
QoS, while the Internet is a best-effort model based on bandwidth capacity.
He says both are applicable given the network circumstances - if there's
plenty of bandwidth, there's no need for QoS controls; if not, there is.

Bradner says the two models will not converge, but will interoperate.

This session and another Bradner-chaired tutorial - on the future of the
'Net - is of particular interest to Aetna, the $20 billion insurance giant.

"A lot of the things we're doing all in one way, shape or form exploits the
Internet - Wi-Fi, VoIP, work at home, broadband, as well as across much of
our e-commerce with file transfers and [business-to-business] VPNs," says
Kevin Sweeney, director of external connectivity and mobile computing for
Aetna. "So where that's going, both from a regulatory standpoint, as well as
technology, is of great interest."

The future of the 'Net could be shaped in large part by the need to support
peer-to-peer applications and Web-based services, which use peer-to-peer
protocols. This type of traffic is growing in use and importance in
enterprise networks and on the 'Net, especially as companies move to SOAs
designed to support peer-to-peer and message-based transmissions.

Peer-to-peer traffic accounts for more than 60% of Internet traffic,
according to Passmore, and widespread adoption of peer-to-peer applications,
such as Microsoft's integration of Groove Networks into its upcoming Vista
operating system, formerly Longhorn, and BitTorrent's file- sharing
technology, are expected to further inundate the 'Net.

"Here and now, [these are] bigger [issues] than you could ever imagine,"
says Frank Dzubeck, president of consultancy Communications Network
Architects. "Most people don't understand that Web services are now the way
you deliver to the developer, business portion of the company and customer.
You now deliver services vs. an application or a transaction. The amount of
information that now must be gleaned, monitored and managed, as well as
transmitted, increases exponentially."

...
-------------------------------------
To SUBSCRIBE:
send a blank e-mail message to
[email protected]

To UNSUBSCRIBE:
send a blank email message to
[email protected]
-------------------------------------

These news items and comments are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect
those  of the CANARIE board or management.
-----------
[email protected]
www.canarie.ca/~bstarn
skype: pocketpro
SkypeIn: +1 614 441-9603


_______________________________________________
news mailing list
[email protected]
http://lists.canarie.ca/mailman/listinfo/news