ITTC Project

NeTS-Find: Collaborative Research: Postmodern Internetwork Architecture

Project Award Date: 09-01-2006

Description

Network-layer innovation has proven surprisingly difficult, in part because internetworking protocols ignore competing economic interests. A few protocols dominate and enable layer violations that entrench technologies. Many shortcomings of today's internetwork layer result from its inflexibility with respect to the policies of the stakeholders: users and service providers. The consequences of these failings are well-known: various hacks, layering violations, and overloadings are introduced to enforce policies and attempt to get the upper hand in various "tussles." The result is a network that is increasingly brittle, hostile to innovation, vulnerable to attack, and insensitive to concerns about accountability and privacy.

ITTC researchers will design, implement, and evaluate a minimalist internetwork layer and auxiliary functionality that anticipates tussles and allows them to be played out in policy space, as opposed to in the packet-forwarding path. We term this design a postmodern internetwork architecture because it is a reaction against many established network layer design concepts. The overarching goal of the project is to make a larger portion of the network design space accessible without sacrificing the economy of scale offered by the unified Internet.

In collaboration with the University of Kentucky and the University of Maryland

Investigators

Faculty Investigator(s): James Sterbenz (PI)

Student Investigator(s): Justin Rohrer, Abdul Jabbar Mohammad

Project Sponsors

Primary Sponsor(s): National Science Foundation (NSF)