Evolution of the Internet(Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow)

ByRobert E. Kahn

President & CEO, CNRI

WCIT 2014Guadalajara, MexicoSeptember 30, 2014

How the Internet got Started

• An effort about interoperability of computers and networks

• Driven by U.S. Government funding and implemented primarily at research sites

• International from the very beginning• Illuminating question at a National Academy

talk during the mid 1990s.

Etam W.Va Earth Station

Packet Radio Van

The BBN IMP Team

Non-technical aspects of the Internet

• The social structures that kept it going– Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB)– Internet Activities Board (IAB)– Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)– Internet Society (ISOC)– Internet Corporation for Assigned Names &

Numbers (ICANN)– World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)– Internet Governance Forum (IGF)

Need for Common Understandings

• Internet - Global Information System• Internet Governance – many players, coordinated

collaboration• What about the following? - All part of the Internet– Internet of Things?– Cloud Computing?– Software Defined Networks?– Network Functional Virtualization?– Big Data? Sensor Nets Iptv? VoIP?

Clarifying some Myths

• Wireless was not a recent add-on. It was there from the beginning

• End-End is not a basic principle of the Internet. Its only desirable to support client-server models such as the Web

• The Domain Name System (DNS) is not an intrinsic part of the Internet. Its an important application that maps names to IP addresses.

• Security was not an afterthought. It was hard to achieve consensus in the 1970s and still is

Some Assumptions about the Future

• More Network capacity• Higher user access speeds• Many more wireless devices & other “things”• Better security• Apps of all kinds – many unimaginable today• Focus on Information Access & Management• Interoperability of heterogeneous information

systems will be critical to achieve

Information Access & Management

• From packets, routers, IP addresses – which accommodated movement of bits

• To Digital Objects, identifiers, metadata and a digital object interface protocol

• Important role of identifier resolution systems• Key Issues are:– Persistence, authentication, identity management– System security & Interoperability– Overall Framework described in ITU-T

Recommendation X.1255

Application Areas

• Current Examples:– Publishing Industry– Entertainment Industry– Government Information– Products on the market

• Potential Examples– Research Information – facilitate sharing– Health Care – assure access with security– Smart Cities – access plans of buildings, utilities, construction

codes– Distributed Simulation – linked DOs

Identifiers are Key

• Each digital entity in the Future Internet has an associated ID– People, systems, information, other defined resources– Anonymous entities may be disadvantaged

• Reliable Resolution of IDs to “state information”• Protocols that depend primarily on IDs• Interoperable Repositories that implement the protocols

(thus hiding the storage mechanisms)• Registries that produce IDs from client-driven metadata

searches• Integrated Registries/Repositories• Distributed management of the ID records

Administration & Management of the Identifier Resolution System

• Many existing identifier/resolution systems• Focus here is on the “Handle System”, developed by

CNRI and administered by CNRI during the past 20 years

• Currently has many thousands of local handle services and probably billions of identifiers

• Moving from a single administrator of the Global Handle Registry to a multiple administrator system

• Oversight provided by the DONA Foundation established in early 2014 in Geneva

DONA Foundation

• Currently, four administrators are designated– CNRI, GWDG, ITU, and Coalition for Handle Services – China

(ETIRI, CDI and CHC)– Additional administrators to be added in coming years

• Main responsibility is oversight of the GHR• Most of DONA activities will involve outreach, assistance

in developing pilot projects, and fostering interoperability experiments with heterogeneous information systems

• Web site is currently undergoing development– See http://www.dona.net

Conclusions

• Significant changes in the Internet are underway in the management of information

• Social aspects of managing change have been and will continue to be essential elements

• Digital Objects (or more generally digital entities) of all kinds will become the lingua franca of information management

• Identifiers are the linchpin• Stable management of identifiers will be critical; Interoperability

of identifier resolution systems will be key• Applications of this technology are sure to develop to provide

new capabilities for archiving, security and other desired funtions.