Internet Mark 2 Project

Creating Tomorrow's Internet.

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Protocols

Background

The Internet base protocols were designed in the 1970s and 1980s as a means to connect mainframe computer systems for timesharing purposes. The system introduced for this purpose has been expanded to become a global multimedia information, communications and financial system, connecting PCs, phones, and millions rather than the hundreds of devices foreseen by the original inventors.

In particular, the following were not foreseen at the time of the original design

In the ensuing 21 years the Internet system has become mission critical for a rapidly expanding user base, giving rise to a number of requirements not originally envisaged. Over these years a number of small and large changes have been made to try and accommodate these extra demands. However, these have not always been successful.

Where to from here?

Since we first raised these issues in detail in 2004, there have been a number of developments supporting the position we took. In particular, the US National Science Foundation , which took a leading role in development of Internet Mark 1, has taken a role in supporting projects that deal with large scale change rather than ossification by incremental change.

We are pleases to support initiatives such as Planet Lab with innovative approaches to these problems.

For further information on promising initiatives, see our Resources section.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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