Re: [ga] Internet stability

["Ross Wm. Rader" <ross@tucows.com>]

> You may tell
> people what they do is against the network architecture rules: they do not
> listen, but when they see the financial losses some start understanding
....

I think it is more a matter of them understanding it and trying to change it
because it is not consistent with their world-view. Telcom's grew up in a
world where all services are distributed from a central control point (the
CO) to subscribers through a network that grows increasingly "stupid" (the
local loop) until it reachs the terminally un-intelligent end-points (the
handsets) where subscribers consume the pre-packaged service.

The internet, on the other hand, is a fundamentally "stupid" network with no
centralized control and highly intelligent end-points (desktop computers).
In this model, the end-points define the application and services that
travel across the network - pretty scary from the point-of-view of the
standard telco model. This is also where TCP/IP networking derives its power
and mass-market appeal.

This concept was originally proposed as a principle for allocating
intelligence in large scale networks by Saltzer, Reed and Clark in 1981 and
has since become a central principle in the design of the Internet.
Technically, the principle is well understood. Where we are running into
problems nowadays is with the policy implications of this structure driven
by urge to centralize and control the network by those that wish to make
money from it Telcom-style.

Much of the news about the internet that we've seen over the last few years
are driven by those who embrace e2e arguments and those who wish to subvert
them. (Napster v. RIAA, AOL/Time Warner Merger, QOS and much more...)

If you are interested in learning a little bit more about this dynamic,
these papers are a great primer.

End-to-End Arguments in System Design, J. H. Saltzer, D. P. Reed, and D. D.
Clark
http://web.mit.edu/Saltzer/www/publications/endtoend/endtoend.pdf

Active Networking and End-To-End Arguments, Comment, David P. Reed, Jerome
H. Saltzer, and David D. Clark
http://lawschool.stanford.edu/e2e/papers/Saltzer_Clark_Reed_ActiveNetworking
e2e.html

Rethinking the Design of the Internet: The End to End Arguments vs. the
Brave New World, David Clark and Marjory Blumenthal
http://lawschool.stanford.edu/e2e/papers/TPRC-Clark-Blumenthal.pdf

Thanks,

-rwr

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