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EDS' Next Big Thing Blog: Read and Respond to What the EDS Fellows Say About Technology

Read and respond to what the EDS Fellows have to say about the future of technology on EDS' Next Big Thing Blog on eds.com.

A broken Internet vs. an unproven alternative

by Charlie Bess

An article in MIT technology review states that the Internet is broken. It reminded me of a time back in the mid-80s when OSI standard protocols were going to replace all this broken TCP/IP stuff.

I had a co-op student I was mentoring through his bachelor's degree, and we shifted his thesis to focus on TCP/IP protocols . His professor was not happy. We made the change because we were using TCP/IP and although we used DEC networking extensively, it did not appear their OSI implementation was going to have the impact in the time we needed it (remember DECnet phase V).

It's much easier to change the underlying hardware and low level transport than the higher levels of the OSI reference model. When it gets to the level of changing the applications, there is so much inertia that a real business case would need to be made. The organizational change management issues will be the greatest hurtle to be overcome no matter how successful their demonstration.

Published Friday, January 06, 2006 1:52 PM

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Comments

Posted by Tim Murphy Wednesday, February 01, 2006 2:50 PM

The idea to want to rethink the Internets basic architecture and "start over with a fresh design" is already here with IPv6. Clark pointed out that the simple Internet Technology has turned complex and has shown a shortcomings with built-in security. IPv6 is the next big thing. It is here and being supported by the Internet industry world-wide. The US Government has taken a lead through OMB in mandating Agency to be in compliance by 2008. Transition plans are being developed today. With all the developed add-ons in IPv4 over the years this new IP structure does offer better capabilities and does address the security concerns identified. IPv6 through the promise of enhanced security capabilities will change how ebusiness will be conducted. Even though the primary focus of IPv6 is to solve the shortage of IP address space it does promise other capabilities that will impact how we operate on tomorrows Internet.

Posted by Charlie Bess Thursday, February 02, 2006 12:10 AM

I agree that IPv6 is important. It has been in the works for quite a while though. Makes me wonder about the need for a killer application to force the issue? That concept may not be applicable though.

Posted by Tim Murphy Monday, March 06, 2006 2:34 PM

The Killer App is already here! It's in the mobile phones and the home set-top boxes (i.e., cable box, gaming box, etc). It’s now moving out of the academics (within Universities) and moving into mainstream businesses. It's being put in automobiles and e-Business type function. IPv6 is the center core to all converging technologies. IPv6 is taken all the IPv4 add-ons capabilities and made it a common standard allowing for a new baseline to be formed. It’s offering endless possibilities for future growth. We’ll see a huge movement in the next couple of years in organizations to transition their infrastructures to IPv6. Once the infrastructures are in place we’ll see enhancement in areas we already have today (i.e., Secure communications, improved quality of service, better management and controlled services). We’ll also see much effort spent on improving services (i.e., security, mobility, applications capabilities.). We’ll continue to see convergence in databases, applications, and networks. We’ll see that with every major change a need for compliance validation and certification testing. We’ll see continued growth in IT type services (Banking, Airline registration, phone communication, video, etc).

Posted by Charlie Bess Monday, March 06, 2006 2:47 PM

There is quite a bit more action around IPv6 recently. http://www.ipv6.org/
It's reminds me of all the 3rd generation mobility discussion. By the time everyone is ready to move there is buyers regret because of new technologies that are just not here yet, but will be any day now.

Posted by Tim Murphy Tuesday, March 14, 2006 2:49 PM

IPv6 looks to be coming sooner than later. With OMB mandating Government Agencies to be in compliance by 2008 much of the activities seen now will only be increased. True, buyers remorse does come to mind when introducing new technologies but playing catch-up could be more painful later. No one wants to be the first but then again they don’t want to be the last. Much new technology struggles have been caused by lack of infrastructure and a standard foundation. IPv6 is offering a common environment where new technologies can only flourish. The next biggest App Killer will be leveraged on an IPv6 infrastructure utilizing “unified messaging” capabilities. This will allow voice mail to be read on PC’s and email heard on phones.