Internet Gone Mobile: Technology and Policy Issues in the Mobile Internet

Presenter: Richard Bennett, Research Fellow, ITIF

Disclaimer:Views expressed are mine alone and not those of ITIF or its sponsors.

March 2, 2010

About me

Protocol Engineer

Ethernet over Twisted Pair

Wi-Fi MAC, QoS, and MPDU Aggregation

UWB Distributed Reservation Protocol

Real-Time TCP

Consult with Industry

Policy Engineer

Research Fellow with Washington Think Tank

Testified before FCC in the Comcast complaint

Testified before Congress

Consult with regulators in Europe and the US

3

Internet’s Historical Arc

Original Internet

Built for Three Networks: ARPANET, PRNET, SATNET

Design based on CYCLADES

Became the world standard because of research deployment

Internet today

1.6 Billion users, Web-oriented

Internet ten years from now

7 Billion Users.

20 Billion Devices.

Mobile last mile

Augmented Reality, Social Networks, Two-Way Video, M2M

4

Internet’s Problems

Huge Backlog of Incomplete and Undeployed standards:

DiffServ, IntServ, RSVP, Mobile IP, DNSSEC

Operationally stagnant since 1993, if not longer

Addressing Model is Wrong

No host address, two point of attachment addresses

No meaningful support for multi-homing and mobility

Routing table overflow

No Meaningful Security

Public networks need attribution

5

Internet’s Problems - 2

Congestion Control is poorly implemented

Keeps utilization of core links at 30%

Reacts too slowly

Doesn’t connect congestion with value of communications

Quality of Service not connected with congestion

Layered Architectures are Arguably Wrong in Principle

Networks are recursive.

“Networking is IPC and only IPC” – John Day

Addresses don’t need to be global, names do

NATs are not the exception, they’re the norm

6

Mobile’s Historical Arc

Voice +

Voice + Data

Voice + Data + Location

Voice + Data + Location + Sensors

Fascination with IP

Grass is always Greener

Naïve with respect to Internet’s design problems

Real-time focus is very important

The Internet has a lot to learn from Mobile

Mobile has three time as many users as Internet

7

Top Challenges

Constructive Bellhead + Nethead engagement

Bridge the Gap between the Two Network Cultures.

Develop Interoperable VoIP

RSVP, IntServ, DiffServ, Pre-ECN, Mobile IP

Authentication, Payments, Roaming

Internet Phone Numbers

Develop New Architecture for Internet of the Future

John Day’s RINA

Joe Touch’s RNA

Something else?

8

Internet’s Future

IPv6 will not take off

Fails to correct the problems with Addressing, Routing, Quality of

Service, and Security

TCP will slowly die off

Hard-wired for limited size and speed

Interesting New Apps are Real Time

Recursive Architectures will take over

Initial Implementations will encapsulate IP as MPLS and IS-IS do

Economic Solutions to Congestion

How much is low latency worth to each application?

9

Policy Issues

Law is Backward-Looking

Technology is paradigm-shattering and forward-looking

Most policy thinkers stuck in telephony paradigm

Better policy thinkers tout out-of-date layered models

Internet is Global

Regulation is local

Internet is a Multi-Purpose, Virtual Network

Regulation Constrains Network to “the application”.

Need Process-Oriented Models of Regulation

Rule-Oriented Models always out of date

Combine Network Stakeholders with Regulators

10

Spectrum Controversies

Licensed and Unlicensed have different roles

Unlicensed is good for local and experimental

Licensed is always more efficient

SDMA, CDMA, MIMO have capacity and function limits

Wireless is a small part of the Network in any event.

Big Historical Mistake:

TV Should be Wired, Telephony Should be Wireless.

Correcting this Mistake is Technically Easy

Shared Spectrum for Broadcasting

Political Challenge is Apparently Greater than Tech Challenge.

11

Broadband Controversies

Clambering for Number One

Poor way to enact policy

Number One positions are scare resources

Where is the U. S. overall?

Leader in Affordable, low-speed DSL

Leader in connected Schools

More FTTH than Europe

Trailing Europe in Spectrum

Trailing in broadband subsidies

What will FCC do about Net Neutrality?

Find Ancillary Jurisdiction

Rely on Self-Regulation

12

Regulatory Approach

Mobile Internet Experience the Fruit of Innovation

Policy has to create the space for fundamental advances.

Innovation in the Core Enables Innovation at the Edge.

Non-Discrimination Rule Potentially Troubling

All packets are not equal

Discrimination easily confused with Differentiation

Four Freedoms of Internet Access need to be supplemented:

Freedom to Improve the Network

Freedom to Improve Network Economics

13

New Freedoms

Engineering Freedom is Not a License to Steal

Reasonable Oversight, not Strangling Regulation

14

New Freedoms

Engineering Freedom is Not a License to Steal

Reasonable Oversight, not Strangling Regulation

Business Model Innovation is Essential

Internet Economy Replete with Proprietary Deals

Peering and Transit Agreements are made under NDA.

Fundamental Algorithms of Internet Economy are Trade Secret.

Aligning incentives of users and operators is crucial.

15

Co-Regulation

See Chris Marsden: Net Neutrality: Towards a Co-Regulatory

Solution

Stakeholders + Regulators Create Framework, enforce rules

Avoid Outdated Models

The Internet is not a telecom network

The Mobile Internet will not look much like the wired Internet

16

Thank you.

Please read:

Going Mobile: Technology and Policy Issues in the Mobile Internet

http://www.itif.org/files/100302_GoingMobile.pdf

Contact me at:

richard@bennett.com

17