The GENI (Global Environment for Network Investigators) Project recently released their conceptual document. GENI is a 367M USD, 5 year project supported by NSF to build the “next generation Internet”.
The document pointed out several good points about the limitation of the current Internet:
• The Internet is not secure. We hear daily about worms, viruses, and denial of service attacks, and we have reason to worry about massive collapse, due either to natural errors ormalicious attacks. Problems with “phishing†have prevented institutions such as banks fromusing email to communicate with their customers. Trust in the Internet is eroding.
• The current Internet cannot deliver to society the potential of emerging technologies such as wireless communications. Even as all of our computers become connected to the Internet,we see the next wave of computing devices (sensors and controllers) rejecting the Internet in favor of isolated “sensor networksâ€.
• The Internet does not provide adequate levels of availability. The design should be able to deliver a more available service than the telephone system. In particular, it should meet theneeds of society in times of crisis by giving priority to critical communications.
• The design of the current Internet actually creates barriers to economic investment andenhancement by the private sector. For example, barriers to cooperation among InternetService Providers have limited the creation and delivery of new services. A large number of specific problems with the Internet today have their roots in an economic disincentive,rather than a technical lack.
• The Internet was not designed to make it easy to set up, to identify failures and problems, orto manage. This limitation applies both to large network operators and the consumer athome. Difficulties with installation and debugging of the Internet in the home have turned many users away, limiting the future penetration of the Internet into society.
